Iraq Frees 2,300 Prisoners, Including 400 Kurds, Reports Say
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IRBIL, Iraq — Saddam Hussein has freed 2,300 mainly political prisoners from a jail near Baghdad, according to some of those just released.
A freed Kurdish doctor, Majeed Hamed Amin, said 1,900 Arabs and 400 Kurds were released over the weekend. His account was corroborated by another freed Kurd, Osman Hassan Dizaye.
Fifty-one Kurdish former political detainees returned to the northern city of Irbil on Monday and Tuesday after being released from Abu Ghraib prison, 12 miles west of Baghdad.
The release is being interpreted in Kurdistan as a sign that Hussein is anxious to keep a peaceful dialogue going with Kurdish leaders.
Kurdish leaders insist on a complete accounting of the 182,000 Kurds they say are still missing following government roundups in 1987 and ’88.
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