By IANS,
Baghdad : Iraq Friday said the US military has delivered 196 prisoners to Iraqi authorities, including two half-brothers of former president Saddam Hussein.
The 196 people had been detained at the Camp Cropper near the Baghdad International Airport, Xinhua reported.
Iraq’s justice ministry said in a statement that it received the detainees Thursday.
Among them were five top officials of the Saddam regime including his two half-brothers – Sabaawi Ibrahim al-Hassan and Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan – and former defence minister Sultan Hashim.
A justice ministry spokesman told CNN that all five were tried and sentenced to death and are expected to be executed within a month.
The US military has been turning over bases, jails and prisoners to Iraq, as the scheduled deadline – Dec 31 – for full withdrawal approaches.
Camp Cropper is a detention centre built in 2006. It held a total of 206 inmates. After Thursday’s release, the 10 remaining detainees are waiting for paperwork.