‘Iraq pardons 17 Saudi prisoners’

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki has pardoned 17 Saudi prisoners who would soon be handed over to a Saudi delegation visiting Baghdad, a local newspaper reported.
Quoting reliable sources, the report said the prisoners would have to serve the remaining period of their prison terms in Saudi jails. Al-Maliki authorized the pardon on July 16 and notified the Saudi authorities, the report said. One of the conditions was that the prisoners should be handed over to the delegation in person.
“The District Court in Baghdad has issued rulings against a number of detainees, but further investigations are still going on. They will be deported after the completion of their interrogation,” a source said.
The Saudi delegation will meet the Iraqi prime minister to discuss modalities to transfer to Riyadh five Saudi prisoners who have been sentenced to death.
The Iraqi authorities had executed Mazen Al-Masawi in August 2012, the source said. “Executions are carried out once they are finalized and endorsed by the presidency of the state. The Iraqi constitution mandates the Justice Ministry implement the verdict immediately,” the source said.
The daily also reported that Al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant countries has taken responsibility for the recent attacks on two prisons near Baghdad. Some of those who fled following the attack were senior leaders of Al-Qaeda, the report said.
The organization, in a statement on its website, claimed that after months of planning, successful attacks targeting two of the largest prisons in Iraq — Abu Ghraib and Taji — were carried out.
The Committee of Saudi Detainees in Iraq, however, said no Saudis were among those who fled from Abu Ghraib and Taji. The Saudi prisoners have been lodged in prisons in Rusafa and the Fifth Division, the report said quoting the committee.