Saddam to be handed to Iraq

2004-06-06 10:26

Abu Ghraib, Iraq - The US military freed more detainees on Sunday from a prison that has been the centre of a scandal involving abuse of inmates by American soldiers.

Relatives gathered early outside the prison gates and waved as the detainees were loaded onto buses and driven out of the grim, walled detention centre on the western outskirts of Baghdad.

The families then piled into cars and followed US Humvees and Iraqi police escorting the buses to towns where the prisoners will be discharged.

Sunday's release was the fourth major one from the facility since the scandal broke in April over the abuse of detainees by American guards.

The military periodically frees prisoners from Abu Ghraib, which was also notorious for being a torture site during Saddam Hussein's regime. The US military has said it will hand over the facility to Iraqi officials in August.

One American accused in the scandal was sentenced to a year in prison for sexually humiliating detainees and taking a photo of prisoners stacked naked in a human pyramid.

Three others will appear before a military judge June 21 in Baghdad.

Following the revelations of abuse, US officials said they planned to reduce the facility's population by at least half. The new Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi, told Associated Press Television News on Saturday that the Americans will hand over all detainees, including Saddam Hussein, after Iraqis regain sovereignty at the end of this month.

The military is still sending so-called "high-risk" detainees considered security risks to the prison.

Following earlier releases, the number of those held at Abu Ghraib has fallen to less than 3 000.

- AP