Iraqi Prison Amnesty

Tyler Hicks

The New York Times

A relative of an Iraqi prisoner waits for his release at a crowded prison cell as tens thousands of Iraqi prisoners storm out of the country's most notorious prison at Abu Ghraib, 20 miles west of Baghdad on Sunday after Saddam Hussein declared an amnesty, and emptied most of the countries prisons. The government gave no figure for the number released but human rights groups have estimated that Iraqi prisons hold tens of thousands of political prisoners in addition to then of thousands of others held for criminal offenses. Chaos developed throughout the vast prison compound after thousands of relatives broke through the main gates and raced to at least a dozed prison buildings, in some cases spotting imprisoned family members while they were still attempting to break out of the breeze block holding compounds.

Tyler Hicks, "Iraqi Prison Amnesty," in POYi Archive, Item #32774, http://archive.poy.org/items/show/32774 (accessed November 23, 2024).