More than 1,000 prisoners held at Abu Ghraib jail will be released this week after a request by Iraqi authorities for a goodwill gesture to mark Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, the US military said yesterday.

The release will take place in stages over the coming week, with 500 prisoners to be set free later on Monday local time, a statement said.

"These detainees were selected for release following a careful and thorough review of their files by a special Iraqi-led review board which determined they had not committed serious crimes," the military said.

Ramadan, a month of fasting that is the pinnacle of the Muslim religious calendar, starts around October 4 this year.

US forces are holding about 11,800 prisoners at several detention centers in Iraq, with the largest number, 6,300, held at Camp Bucca in the south.

About 4,200 are currently held at Abu Ghraib, which is notorious for the images of US soldiers mocking, physically abusing and torturing Iraqi prisoners that emerged last year.

The US military said the number set free this week would constitute the largest release to date.

It comes amid widespread accusations by Iraqi families, human rights groups and some Iraqi government ministers, including the justice minister, that too many Iraqis are being detained for too long without due process.

(China Daily September 27, 2005)