Iraqi Parliament Considers Amnesty

From AFP: Iraq's parliament gave a first reading on Monday to a draft law that offers a general amnesty to thousands of detainees held in US and Iraqi prisons in a bid to boost national reconciliation. The detainees, mostly Sunni Arabs, are being held without charge. Most have been detained for more than a year on suspicion of backing the anti-US insurgency. Their detention is seen as fuelling animosity between the Shiite and Sunni communities in Iraq and the US military in particular has been strongly advocating their release in the wake of a growing alliance of Sunnis with American forces.

MPs said the bill will not apply to those sentenced to death or convicted of terrorism, premeditated murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, incest, drug trafficking, forgery, rape, sodomy or the smuggling of antiquities. It will also not apply to anyone formally charged with these crimes. Sadiq al-Rikabi, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said when the cabinet approved the bill on December 26th, it would apply to "as many detainees as possible", including those held for corruption and other financial crimes.

The second reading of the law is scheduled for four days' time whereafter it will be put to the vote. Around 26,000 detainees are held in two US prisons and thousands more in Iraqi-run detention centres. The US military holds the detainees at Camp Cropper near Baghdad international airport and at Camp Bucca near the southern port city of Basra.