BAGHDAD, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. forces in Iraq are prepared to begin handing over up to 1,500 Iraqi detainees a month to Iraqi forces as per a security agreement, the military says.
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Robert Kenyon, who runs the U.S. Camp Cropper detention facility near Baghdad, said while thousands of Iraqi detainees will be transferred starting Feb. 1, scores of other more dangerous detainees may soon go free, USA Today reported Monday.
Kenyon said many of the 3,000 detainees currently considered high-level threats could potentially go free due to Iraq regulations that stipulate a conviction can only be obtained through a confession or the testimony of two witnesses.
U.S. officials are attempting to convince Iraqi judges to alter the legal rules to allow forensic evidence to be used to earn convictions against the potentially dangerous detainees, USA Today reported.
The scheduled releases to the Iraqi government starting next month are part of an agreement between U.S. and Iraqi officials aimed at increasing Iraqi authority that went into effect on Jan. 1.
