I wonder if we're still holding Saleh's wife. Or al-Douri's.Two Iraqi women detained by US forces near Baghdad and who their relatives say were being held hostage in an effort to pressure fugitive male relatives to surrender have been released, the US army has said.
A spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division said the women had been released into the custody of a local shaikh.
The US military confirmed on Wednesday that it had detained the two women, named by relatives as Salima al-Batawi, 65, and her 35-year-old daughter, Aliya.The military said they had been detained on suspicion of aiding fighters and added it was investigating accusations they were being held as hostages by troops searching for male relatives suspected of taking part in attacks.
"US forces do not take hostages, nor do we participate in blackmail activities," Lieutenant Colonel Clifford Kent, spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division, said in a statement on Friday.[...]
A handwritten note in Arabic left at the house where the women were detained and seen by Reuters reporters who went to the site read: "Be a man Muhammad Mukhlif and give yourself up and then we will release your sisters. Otherwise they will spend a long time in detention."
[...]
Salima said US troops in 30 Humvee vehicles showed up at their house just north of Baghdad at dawn last Saturday. One of them asked her for the whereabouts of one of her sons.
"I told him I would not give him the information because my three sons had already been detained by the Americans for a year and they were innocent. They said we would be detained until my son surrenders," she said.[...]
On several occasions, Iraqis have accused US troops of arresting women to pressure fugitive male relatives into giving
themselves up.
Amnesty International says such arrests would be in breach of international law. The US military says it only detains those suspected of crimes or involvement in attacks.
Aljazeera article
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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