Iraq government frees some detainees

BAGHDAD, April 22 (UPI) -- The Iraqi government freed detainees from several of its prisons to ease overcrowding and reintegrate inmates into society, officials said.

The Iraqi government released hundreds of detainees from state-run prisons in Kirkuk and Sulaimaniya province, USA Today said Tuesday.

Most of the detainees were Sunnis accused of lesser crimes, former rank-and-file military officers and members of former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

They were freed under an amnesty passed by the Iraqi parliament in February. Since the laws passage, more than 40,000 detainees were released at a rate of about 52 per day, the U.S. military reported.

The Iraqi amnesty law doesn't extend to the some 20,000 detainees held by the U.S. military, though those are considered in the pending status of forces agreement between the United States and Iraq.

The detainees swear an oath of loyalty to the Iraqi government and pledge to not attack Iraqi or U.S.-led forces or engage in actions that threatens Iraqi national security.

The Iraqi government also plans to offer vocational training to detainees to encourage them to engage in Iraqi society peacefully, the report says.

"I can't predict what they might do in the future, but we hope that they take this opportunity to do positive things," Kirkuk provincial Gov. Abdul Rahman Mustafa told USA Today.