Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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December 26, 2007

Iraqi Cabinet Approves Draft Law Pardoning Detainees
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1AB533F:A6F02AD83191E160B55418DA49632F5E0531BB26A5003E7B& General pardon
also to include many of 26,000 detainees in US military custody 





Iraqi army soldiers leads blindfolded detainees at an army compound in
Baqouba, capital of Iraq's Diyala province (File Photo)The Iraqi
government says the Cabinet has approved a draft law that offers a
general pardon to thousands of detainees in U.S. military and Iraqi
custody.

The draft now requires parliamentary approval.

The U.S. military is holding 26,000 detainees and Iraqi authorities
are holding thousands more. Most of the detainees are Sunni Arabs, who
are being held without formal charges. The detentions are seen as a
source of friction between minority Sunnis and majority Shi'ite
Muslims.

Iraqi officials say the law will help boost reconciliation efforts.

In other news, the U.S. military says coalition forces killed four
terrorists and detained one suspect during operations in central Iraq
Wednesday.

In a separate statement, the military said it has positively
identified a high-level al-Qaida in Iraq militant as Abdullah, who was
killed during a raid last month in the restive Salah ad Din province,
north of Baghdad.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.


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