Iraq calls on Iran to release all Iraqi prisoners

The Iraqi daily al-Thawra on Monday called on Iran to release all Iraqi prisoners who are still being held since the end of the war between the two countries in 1988.

On Iran's releasing of a group of 276 Iraqi prisoners last Thursday, the Iraqi paper said that the Iranian authorities have to release all prisoners, rather than in shifts. It accused Iran of torturing the prisoners and of killing several of them as a result of this torture.

The paper expressed its hope that the coming talks between the two sides will result in releasing all Iraqi prisoners. It added that normalization requires resolving all issues, foremost the issue of prisoners and that of the planes (in reference to the Iraqi warplanes kept by Iran in Iran during the second Gulf war where the planes were stored for safety from attacks by anti-Iraq coalition forces attacks).

A new round of talks will be held next month in order to close the file of the war prisoners between the two countries.