The U.S. military released about 500 Iraqi detainees from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison on Saturday, completing its plan to free a total of more than 1,000 this week in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The move began Monday with the release of more than 500 other detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, which gained international notoriety after a number of U.S. military personnel were charged with humiliating and assaulting detainees at the facility. This week, U.S. Army Pfc. Lynndie England, 22, was sentenced to three years behind bars for taking part in detainee abuse there. Her sentencing wrapped up the last of nine courts-martial of low-level soldiers charged in the scandal, which severely damaged America's image in the Muslim world and tarnished the U.S. military at home and abroad, The Associated Press reported. On Saturday, the 500 detainees dressed in dishdashas, or traditional white Arab robes, each lined up before U.S. soldiers at the prison to sign a document on their release, receive US$25 in cash and board buses taking them home or the locations where they were first detained. Some carried copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book. Others had photographs of members of their families that they had kept with them while in prison. "We worked with the Iraqi government to release detainees who weren't guilty of any serious crimes in a move timed to honor the holy month Ramadan," said Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, spokesman for the U.S. military unit that runs the prison. The U.S. government says it only releases detainees who are not guilty of serious, violent crimes _ such as bombing, torture, kidnapping, or murder _ and who have had admitted their crimes, renounced violence, "and pledged to be good citizens of a democratic Iraq." 1117 Local Time 0817 GMT
