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UK denies deal to allow troop withdrawal from Basra palace

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Aug 31, IRNA
UK-Basra Withdrawal
British troops were reported Friday to have released more than two dozen Iraqi prisoners over the last three months in the run-up to their now imminent withdrawal from the UK base at Saddam's Hussein's former palace compound in Basra.

But according to the Guardian newspaper, the UK government denies doing a deal with Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army to stave off last- minute attacks.

Some of the 26 were said to have been released on bail, some freed due to insufficient evidence and some still in custody pending trial.

"The way in which these cases have been handled is about due legal process, and these 26 cases are not related to a deal with the Mahdi army," the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London was quoted saying.

What happened to them subsequently was said to be "a matter for the Iraq authorities," the MoD said. "There is nothing new about us releasing detainees/internees and we have been completely open about how many we hold and how many have been released," it said.

But the Guardian referred to a senior Iraqi security official telling a US newspaper that the transfer of Mahdi army prisoners had been agreed between the British and Iraqi authorities to buy peace as UK forces finally withdrew from the palace.

According to one Basra prisoner in contact with a British lawyer, six of those freed by mid-August under a deal approved by Major General Jonathan Shaw, commander of UK forces, were "grade A terrorists," the daily said.

The handover of the palace to Iraqi forces was reportedly due to take place in early August but was delayed at the US insistence.

American commanders warned that a British withdrawal would be claimed as a victory for the militias.

The remaining 400 British troops in the compound were expected to join some 5,000 based outside Basra at the airport as the UK's only remaining garrison.

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