Iraq Reportedly to Free Hundreds of POWs

KUWAIT CITY — Iraq has reached an agreement with the United Nations to free hundreds of prisoners from the Persian Gulf War, a pro-government Kuwaiti newspaper reported Saturday.

A deal to release Kuwaiti and other prisoners of war would move Baghdad one step closer to satisfying U.N. Security Council conditions for lifting crippling trade sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.

Iraq has persistently denied that it is holding prisoners of war, but authorities say 544 Kuwaitis and 65 other foreigners are in custody.

The agreement would give Baghdad a face-saving device to release the captives without having to admit that it had detained them.

The daily newspaper Al Siyasah quoted “informed” Western diplomats in Jordan who said the prisoners of war have been asked to fill out Red Cross forms stating that they have been living of their own free will in Iraq but would now like to go home.

Sources also said the prisoners have been moved from provincial jails to Baghdad, where they would undergo medical and psychiatric exams before returning home.

The Kuwaiti government office on prisoners of war could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva said it had no knowledge of such an agreement.

However, diplomatic sources in the Jordanian capital, Amman, said talks are underway. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to elaborate, saying publicity at this stage could jeopardize negotiations.

Last week, Iraq reached an agreement with the U.N. Security Council that will allow it to sell $1 billion of oil every 90 days to pay for food and medicine.

Iraqis view that accord as the first crack in the 6-year-old sanctions. Baghdad has to account for the missing before U.N. sanctions can be lifted.

On May 15, a missing Kuwaiti woman returned home after more than five years in Iraq.

Baghdad said Nadia Mohammed Inizi had been “living freely” in Iraq and had decided to rejoin her family. She has not spoken to the media since her return.