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| Iraq |
| Iraq: Saudi Arabia hands over 16 prisoners to Baghdad |
| 2008-10-01 |
| (AKI) - Saudi Arabia on Tuesday handed over 16 Iraqi detainees as part of a prisoner exchange between the two neighbours. The Iraqi government says the 16 were among a total 443 Iraqis detained in Saudi Arabia. A statement from National Security Adviser Muwafaq al-Rubaie, cited by the news agency, Voices of Iraq, said the Iraqi judiciary would investigate each case. "The prisoners are being interrogated and they will be tried before the Iraqi courts after investigation," al-Rubaie's office said in a statement. "This came after directives from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to develop Iraqi-Saudi relations and after three visits paid by al-Rubaie this year, during which he tackled the pending issues between the two countries and focused during the last visit on the Iraqi prisoners in the kingdom," the statement added. "According to mechanisms agreed by the two countries, the Iraqi government started studying a draft of the agreement which will be presented to the cabinet to approve it then to be sent to the parliament to ratify it." Iraq said that eight Saudi detainees had already been returned to their country. The exchange is the outcome of a joint security operation between the two countries. It comes amid indications of a decrease in tension between the Shia-led government and Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab neighbours. The Iraqi government said it will persist with efforts to free the remaining Iraqi prisoners in Saudi Arabia. |
| Posted by:Fred |