Eighty Jordanians have been freed from jails in Iraq following the amnesty declared by President Saddam Hussein, the kingdom's ambassador to Baghdad said on Monday.
Fakhri Abu Taleb, quoted by Petra news agency, said an unspecified number of the freed common law Jordanian prisoners "have already left Iraq for Jordan while the rest will arrive by Tuesday at the latest."
Fifty-five of the Jordanians had been held in Abu Gharib prison near the capital of Baghdad, convicted to terms of between 20 years and six months, he said, while the rest were detained for minor offences.
The envoy was earlier quoted as telling the Al-Dustour daily that amongst those being released were young Jordanians studying at Iraqi universities. In the meantime, foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) reported that Amman has expelled several hundred Iraqi over-stayers in the kingdom and imposed curbs on entry from Iraq.
"Several hundred Iraqis who do not have residence permits in Iraq have been expelled to Iraq after police raids in poor districts of Amman," an NGO official told AFP. (Albawaba.com)
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