Iraqi President Saddam Hussein pardoned on Thursday 27 Iranians serving jail terms in Iraq for various crimes, reported the daily Iran-News, quoting a foreign ministry spokesman as saying.
"The president's pardon shows Iraq's good intentions and its sincere desire to resolve the two countries' humanitarian issue: prisoners-of-war, those who have disappeared, refugees and remains of soldiers," the spokesman said.
The freed prisoners were handed over to Iranian authorities at the border town of Al-Munziriya under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross, he said.
More than a decade after the end of their brutal 1980-1988 war, the issue of POWs and the support of each government for opposition groups remain the main stumbling blocks in the normalization of relations between the two countries, said the daily.
Tehran has repeatedly denied Baghdad's charges it still holds 29,000 Iraqi prisoners – Albawaba.com
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