BAGHDAD, Iraq — President Saddam Hussein threw open Iraq’s jail doors Sunday in an amnesty that brought jubilant bedlam to the dusty courtyards of its notorious prisons.
Family members crushed into drab, fetid prison yards for tearful reunions with tens of thousands of criminals, political dissidents and army deserters.
U.S. officials dismissed the move as an attempt by Hussein to rally domestic and international support in the face of a mounting American-led war threat. It was also seen as an overture by Hussein to opponents of his regime who are living in exile outside Iraq since they, too, were given amnesty.
Minister of Information Mohammed Sahafa read a televised statement from Hussein stating that Iraqis were being given amnesty for “all crimes no matter what the kind.”
The amnesty was said to be Hussein’s expression of thanks to his fellow citizens for re-electing him last week with 100 percent approval in
a referendum.
The amnesty for those in exile could appeal to thousands of Iraqis living in the United States, Europe and, perhaps most significantly, in Kurdish autonomous areas of northern Iraq where the United States might seek to base an attack on the Iraqi regime.
Among those released were many Shiite Muslim men who had been accused of opposing Hussein’s regime, which is dominated by Sunni Muslims. Although Shiites comprise slightly more than half of Iraq’s population, they do not have the political influence of Sunnis.
Prisoners, many appearing healthy but dazed or tired, strode through prison gates with their bedding, clothes and toiletries in sacks or metal lock-boxes.
“I’m in shock,” 44-year-old Faiq Abdel-Rahman said Sunday night after spending 13 years in Abu Ghraib, a prison about 20 miles outside Baghdad that is infamous for torture and executions. A Kurd from northern Iraq, he was charged with espionage after his merchant brother traveled to Iran.
“I don’t know anything about my future, what I will do,” he said, adding that he did not know his family’s telephone number.
The government made a huge media event of the release, inviting foreign reporters to the jails that have been scenes of mass executions and torture.
Iraqi television ran video shot from a helicopter showing prisoners dancing with joy and chanting praise for Hussein.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” said the amnesty was a cynical ploy by Hussein.
“This is typical of this man’s use of human beings for these political purposes of his,” Powell said. “This is the kind of manipulation he uses to try to paint himself as something other than what he is, a brutal dictator.”
“There is a threat of war,” said A.K. Hashimi, an advisor to the Iraqi president. “It is a good idea to give every Iraqi a chance to do his work … all the families are happy to get their people back.”
Saddam Hussein opens jails, grants amnesty to criminals
Daily Emerald
October 20, 2002
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