Since the start of the current year, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani has led a campaign to release dozens of detainees from prison, claiming that they are innocent. The government hopes that this move will help abate the ongoing Sunni protests rocking Anbar Province and elsewhere. Clerics previously took similar action when they, under the name of the Committee of Wise Men, released female prisoners from jail.
On Dec. 31, 2012, the Iraqi government formed a committee comprised of Sunni clerics — including Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Sumaidaie (belonging to the Salafist trend), Khaled al-Mulla (a Sunni cleric who ran in the 2010 parliamentary elections as part of the Shiite National Alliance bloc) and Iraqi Minister of Justice Hassan al-Shammari — to investigate the conditions of female prisoners and to release them from prison. On Jan. 23, this committee announced the release of 91 female prisoners, among 900 currently being held.
Demonstrations began in Iraq's Anbar province on Dec. 23 of last year, with protesters initially calling for the release of female prisoners after reports came out that female prisoners had been raped while in detention.
On Jan. 8 of this year, in light of escalating demands on the part of protesters, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the formation of a committee comprised of seven ministers headed by Shahristani to investigate the files of all detainees.
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