Reconciliation hard sell at Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail

ABU GHRAIB, Iraq, June 15 (Reuters) An Iraqi deputy prime minister today urged detainees about to be released from Abu Ghraib prison to help strengthen peace and security but many seemed more concerned with surviving outside.

In a carefully orchestrated media event, Salam al-Zobaie stood on a podium and tried to sell the government's national reconciliation programme to Iraqis still trying to figure out why they were held without charge in the US-run jail.

After introducing himself when a detainee asked his name, Zobaie called on the inmates to help stabilise Iraq.

It seemed a tall order for exhausted-looking men who spent long months in US-run Abu Ghraib, a heavily fortified complex west of Baghdad where a prisoner abuse scandal broke out in 2004.

''There are two types of prisoners. Those who turn out to be innocent and those who insist on bloody terrorism. We want you to help build Iraq and help with the project of national reconciliation,'' said Zobaie, a Sunni Arab.

But he quickly learned that the new Shi'ite-led government may need to do a lot more than just announce the release of 2,500 mostly Sunni prisoners to unite Iraqis.

Standing in plastic sandals under a blistering sun, detainees wanted assurances that they would be safe and not be jailed again in what they say are arbitrary arrests.

AFRAID OF BEING KILLED ''We heard gunmen are informed that there will be a prison release and then they will kill us,'' said one detainee.

The 200 prisoners were part of the third group of 2,500 inmates that Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said last week would be freed under a national reconciliation drive. About 200 more will be freed tomorrow.

The move was part of the Islamist prime minister's carrot and stick approach of keeping hardcore Sunni insurgents in jail and opening doors to others with no Iraqi blood on their hands and inmates such as those Zobaie hoped to win over today.

By releasing thousands of prisoners, Maliki's Shi'ite-led government hopes to win over members of the Sunni community, the backbone of the insurgency.

Zobaie, whose brief includes security, told the detainees they were jailed because someone gave false information that they were insurgents.

Hisham Hamad, 19, said he was detained by U.S forces after they discovered part of an old artillery shell in his home.

''The Americans found it. Do I look like a terrorist? I have been here seven months. Nobody will give my job back now,'' said the former security guard at an oil facility.

Ali Sobhi, a farmer, said he had been in detention for six months just for breaking a curfew.

Seeking to show the government was in control, Zobaie said no country would be allowed to interfere in Iraq's affairs.

But minutes later he told the inmates that US President George W Bush had spoken of how religion should not be used for bad purposes during his visit to Baghdad on Tuesday.

''The dialogue of the rifle will not be tolerated,'' said Zobaie.

Detainees were given some pocket money, a Koran and a prayer rug before they boarded rickety old buses and headed home.

Reuter SY GC2238