Iraq agrees to help clarify fate of Iraq-Iran war prisoners
Published: Thursday, June 12, 2008
13:05GMT—9:05AM/EST
IRAQ – IRAN – PRISONERS
Washington, 12 June (IranVNC)—The government of Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday with the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC], intended to clarify the fate of prisoners of war still missing after the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq conflict ended in 1988.
According to the ICRC spokesman in Baghdad, Hicham Hassan, it is not clear how many POWs were still missing. So far, the ICRC has overseen the exchange of about 97,000 POWs, he said.
Both countries contend that they no longer hold POWs. The days before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 saw one of the last major exchanges between the two countries, when Iran handed over about 880 Iraqi prisoners. Iraq, for its part, returned 351 Iranians and it said it no longer held any prisoners.
Based on the newly signed agreement, the Iraqi government will give the ICRC updates on the fate of former Iranian prisoners, as well as former Iraqi prisoners who might have left Iran to return to Iraq without the ICRC’s knowledge.
Iran signed an equivalent agreement with the ICRC in February 2004.
Sources: ICRC web site, Reuters
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