Iraq to free 6,000 Sunni insurgents

Up to 6,000 suspected Sunni insurgents are to be freed from Iraqi jails in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the country's government from collapsing under the strain of sectarian in-fighting. The release scheme, which could put some hardened combatants back on to the streets, is part of a high-stakes gamble by Iraq's Shia-led government to win back the confidence of Sunni politicians after increasingly bitter squabbling and walkouts. It is understood to have been central to a key accord last week between the five main Shia, Kurdish and Sunni political blocs to kick-start the government again after 15 months of near deadlock. Last week's accord, brokered after growing pressure from Washington, led to an immediate public pledge to scrap the controversial de-Ba'athification law, which bans former senior members of Saddam Hussein's predominantly Sunni administration from working in government. But the Sunnis are also understood to have privately secured a separate agreement for mass releases of people arrested during anti-insurgent operations. The plan is a tacit acknowledgement that many of the 24,000 security detainees in Iraqi jails are probably either innocent or small players arrested during large-scale anti-insurgent sweeps. Most such sweeps have taken place in Sunni areas, which helps account for the fact that Sunnis, say US commanders, make up 85 percent of the jail population. However, with little hard evidence either way, diplomats admit that the amnesty is likely to result in the release of some committed fighters. The exact number of prisoners to be freed has not yet been decided, but last week Tariq al-Hashemi, the country's vice-president and leader of the Sunni-backed Iraqi Islamic Party, said 50 detainees would be freed every day during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins in mid-September. That would total around 1,500 prisoners, although sources say that further releases, bringing the total to 6,000, could follow. However, despite welcoming the pledges for prisoner release schemes and de-Ba'athification as a "great achievement," the Iraqi Islamic Party leader, Tariq al-Hashemi, has insisted it does not go far enough to persuade his Sunni bloc to rejoin the government. The bloc, which includes his own party and other more hardline, pro-insurgent elements, previously quit its five ministerial posts on Aug. 1, part of a flurry of walkouts and resignations that has left nearly half the 40 seats in al-Maliki's cabinet empty.