Iraq's Maliki hails mass prisoner release

By Missy Ryan and Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hailed the release of 450 detainees from U.S. detention centers on Thursday and urged them to help improve security in the country.

The Shi'ite prime minister spoke to rows of prisoners at Camp Victory, a giant U.S. base near Baghdad's airport. Many of the men squinted in the sun and wore what appeared to be military-issue checked shirts.

"We want them to turn back ... to participate in the process of building and developing this country," Maliki told reporters.

"Security is the golden key," he said. "We will move strongly to make 2008 the year of construction and services."

Thursday's ceremony marked one of the largest U.S. detainee releases this year. Around 350 prisoners were freed from U.S. custody on October 17 in a move marking the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan.

In recent weeks, about 50 prisoners a day had been freed, added First Lieutenant Angela Webb, a deputy spokeswoman for U.S. detainee operations in Iraq. About 6,300 detainees have been released so far this year, she said.

Still, some 25,000 prisoners remain in U.S. custody in Iraq, and more are brought in every week. Thousands of security detainees are also held in Iraqi jails.

The fate of Iraqi detainees has been a flashpoint since U.S. jailors were pictured abusing naked detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in the months following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.