Eighteen Jordanian prisoners, freed earlier this week by Syria after an agreement between the two sides, arrived on Thursday in the kingdom, a witness at the border said. "They arrived at the Jaber border between the two countries," the witness told AFP.
The released Jordanians were not detained in Syria for political crimes, their relatives said. Jordanian Minister of State for Information Nasser Judeh said on Wednesday the prisoners were jailed in Syria for "various reasons."
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered their release as part of a deal reached earlier this month during a summit in Damascus with Jordan's King Abdullah II. It was the king's first visit to the Syrian capital in nearly four years. According to local news reports, there are 250 Jordanians jailed in Syrian prisons.
Judeh has said a joint committee is following up on the fate of the other Syrian and Jordanian detainees held in the two countries in a bid to free all the prisoners.
© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
