Jordanian prisoners in Iraq released

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein yesterday decided to free all Jordanians in Iraqi custody immediately, Iraqi News Agency reported.

Saddam decided to "release immediately all Jordanians still held in Iraqi jails regardless of their sentences," INA added. This resolution was made after Saddam Hussein met the chief of the Jordanian Engineers Syndicate, Laith Shbelat.

Jordanian officials last December said Iraqi officials had promised to review the cases of more than 100 Jordanians remaining in Iraqi custody, but Jordanian officials in Amman stated that Iraqi diplomats gave them a list of 60 prisoners only.

Jordan has not yet been informed about Baghdad's decision to free the Jordanian detainees in Iraq, Jordanian Minister of Information Samir Mutawaa said. "We welcome such a step," he added.

It is clear that Iraq detains hundreds of Jordanians in its custodies, al-Ra'i newspaper wrote. Many of them were detained by Iraqi armed forces when they invaded Kuwait in 1990, it added.

Detainees' relatives said many of the prisoners had died in custody while others had still not been prosecuted.

Both Iraqi and Jordanian interior ministers early this month substituted lists of their citizens jailed in the two countries. They studied the possibility of releasing them.

Since the beginning of 1997 Jordan has made repeated diplomatic efforts to get Jordanian prisoners in Iraqi jails freed. It complained that the Iraqis did not cooperate with its efforts.