- Title: IRAQ: DOZENS OF IRAQI PRISONERS RELEASED FROM ABU GHRAIB PRISON
- Date: 22nd June 2004
- Summary: (U2) ABU GHRAIB, NEAR BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 22, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF ABU GHRAIB PRISON 0.06 2. WIDE OF TROOPS WITH GUARD DOGS STANDING IN FRONT OF RELATIVES WHO ARE WAITING FOR BUSES CARRYING PRISONERS TO ARRIVE 0.14 3. WIDE OF FAMILY MEMBERS STANDING BEHIND BARBED WIRE NEAR PRISON 0.21 4. VARIOUS OF BUSES CARRYING PRISONERS LEAVING, ESCOURTED BY MILITARY CONVOY 0.55 5. SLV BUS WITH PRISONERS WAVING AND FLASHING 'V' VICTORY SIGN 1.07 6. SLV SIGN READING 'BAGHDAD CENTRAL CORRECTIONAL FACILITY VISITATION CENTRE' 1.09 7. WIDE OF ABU GHRAIB PRISON/ WATCH TOWER 1.15 8. LV PRISON 1.18 (W3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 22, 2004) (REUTERS) 9. VARIOUS OF BUS LOADED WITH PRISONERS ARRIVING AT MILITARY SITE WEST OF BAGHDAD 1.36 10. SLV OF ANOTHER BUS DRIVING INTO MILITARY SITE ESCORTED BY U.S. MILITARY VEHICLE 1.47 11. SLV BUS CARRYING PRISONERS ARRIVING AT SITE/ CHIEFS WAITING NEARBY 1.51 12. SLV CHIEF SHAKING HANDS WITH RELEASED PRISONERS 1.59 13. SLV RELEASED PRISONERS GETTING OUT OF BUS/ U.S. SOLDIER STANDING NEARBY/ OME MAN SHAKING HANDS WITH SOLDIER 2.08 14. SLV CHIEFS SHAKING HANDS WITH RELEASED PRISONERS 2.14 15. VARIOUS OF FREED PRISONERS CHECKING NUMBERS WITH U.S. SOLDIERS 2.26 16. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FREED PRISONER, SAYING: "I am happy that I will return back to my family. They took us from our houses. We are innocent. But the coalition forces treated us well." 2.38 17. WIDE OF RELEASED PRISONERS AT MILITARY SITE COURTYARD 2.42 18. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FREED PRISONER, SAYING: "There is no joy, I spent a whole year in prison without any reason.This is my feeling." 2.47 19. VARIOUS FREED PRISONERS WALKING OUT OF THE GATE OF MILITARY SITE 2.59 20. WIDE OF FAMILIES WAITING OUTSIDE 3.06 21. CLOSE OF WOMEN CRYING AS THEY WAIT OUTSIDE GATE OF MILITARY SITE 3.10 22. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) WOMAN CRYING AND SAYING: "My two sons and two of my brothers have been in prison for eight months." 3.20 23. SLV REUNION OF PRISONERS WITH FAMILIES 3.26 24. WIDE OF U.S. SOLDIER STANDING GUARD OUTSIDE MILITARY SITE/ FAMILIES OF PRISONERS WAITING OUTSIDE 3.31 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 7th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA6LDJQOZDK6V1BGQSF4RUVYK4I
- Story Text: U.S. forces free dozens of Iraqi prisoners from
Baghdad's notorious prison of Abu Ghraib.
U.S. forces freed dozens of Iraqi prisoners from
the prison at the heart of the abuse scandal on Tuesday
(June 22), a day after three U.S. soldiers charged with
abusing prisoners faced initial pre-trial hearings.
Freed prisoners were transported by two buses out of
the prison compound, escorted by U.S. military vehicles and
then taken to an Iraqi military site west of Baghdad and
freed from there to the welcome of their anxious families.
"I am happy that I will return back to my family. They
took us from our houses. We are innocent. But the coalition
forces treated us well," said one of the freed prisoners as
he walked out of the military site.
Thousands of prisoners were released recently as part
of a U.S. program to reduce the number of the inmates
following the scandal of abusing detainees.
Images of U.S. soldiers torturing captives at the jail
-- notorious for abuses under ousted Iraqi strongman Saddam
Hussein -- have inflamed international opinion and
threatened U.S. plans to install a stable, friendly
government in Iraq.
The U.S. army, keen to demonstrate it is weeding out
the culprits, has launched investigations into seven
low-ranking suspects in relation to abuse at Abu Ghraib,
which U.S. officials have blamed on a few wayward
individuals.
Pre-trial hearings were held in Baghdad on Monday for
Sergeant Javal Davis, Specialist Charles Graner and Staff
Sergeant Ivan Frederick, reviving notorious images of
sexual and physical humiliation that sparked worldwide
outrage.
The photographs of smirking American soldiers tormenting
naked detainees rocked the U.S. military when they emerged
in April, prompting accusations that policies adopted in
Bush's "war on terror" had encouraged the cruelty.
The Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad was infamous under
Saddam as a place where his opponents were tortured,
lending extra symbolism to images of abuse by U.S. troops
who describe themselves as liberators.
The hearing on Monday, at a convention centre built by
Saddam, aims to resolve any outstanding legal issues ahead
of the start of the court martial of the trio.
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