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Iraqi authorities free 16 ex-regime officials

BAGHDAD, April 18 (KUNA) -- Iraq's higher criminal court has ordered the release of 16 officials from the ex-Baath regime after being acquitted of the charges against them, the Iraqi Ministry of Justice announced on Wednesday.
Haider Al-Saadi, spokesman of the Ministry, said the former defendants will be freed soon after the completion of relevant legal procedures.
Al-Saadi noted that the ministry has already started the first phase of the procedures by freeing three of accused ones, Mohammed Mahdi Al-Saleh, former trade minister, Hamed Yussef Hamadi, former minister of information and culture, Mahmoud Faraj Al-Samarrai, an expert in the field of Military Industrialization.
He added that four others will be freed in the second phase, including Abdulhussein Al-Zerjawi, secretary of the obsolete Baath party in Karbala, who was charged with drying up Al-Ahwar marshes, Latif Mahal Hamud, the former governor of Karbala, who was also charged with drying up Al-Ahwar, Hasan Azba Thalj Dawood Al-Obaidi, former head of exterior service at the Baath's intelligence, charged with humane crimes, and Fadel Salfij Al-Azzawi, charged with drying up Al-Ahwar and genocide operations against Kurds. (end) ahh.ma KUNA 182155 Apr 12NNNN