U.S. Military to Free 50 Iraqi Detainees

U.S. forces will release about 50 Iraqi detainees Sunday but no women are among them, the military said. The freeing of women is a demand by the kidnappers of American journalist Jill Carroll. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said the Iraqis are being released as part of a routine review of their cases.

The detention of Iraqi women has become a contentious issue, particularly since the Jan. 7 kidnapping of Carroll in Baghdad. Her kidnappers have threatened to kill her unless all Iraqi women are freed from custody.

Five Iraqi women were freed in a recent release of prisoners on Jan. 26, but U.S. and Iraqi officials denied that they were freed to meet the conditions of Carroll's kidnappers. At least four Iraqi women remain in U.S. military custody.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Detainees.html