From our ABC .....

US transfers control of Abu Ghraib prison

An Iraqi government spokesman says the US military has transferred control of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison to Iraqi authorities and the "prison is now empty of any detainees or prisoners".

"The Abu Ghraib prison has been officially handed over yesterday (Friday) by the coalition forces to the Iraqi forces and the prison is currently under the Iraqi administration," spokesman Ali al-Dabaqh said.

"The prison witnessed violations of human rights during the former regime and also under the US forces," he said, adding Iraqi authorities will decide on what needs to be done with the facility in the future.

A US military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Keir-Kevin Curry, said: "Coalition forces transferred operations of Abu Ghraib on September 1 to the Iraqi ministry of justice, effectively ending detainee operations."

Nearly 4,500 prisoners were held in Abu Ghraib at the start of this year, but more than 2,000 of those were released under Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's national reconciliation plan, which he announced in June. 

Lieutenant Colonel Curry says the rest of the detainees were "transferred to Camp Cropper in Baghdad last month, after completing an expansion and extensive renovations meant to provide increased security and improved detainee care and custody."

The prison in western Baghdad was a torture centre under former Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein. 

Photographs of American soldiers abusing Iraqis at the prison in 2003 gave it a new notoriety and made it a touchstone for Arab and Muslim rage over the US occupation.

The conviction of several low-ranking US soldiers for abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 - secured after photographs taken by the soldiers were made public - failed to end anger among many Iraqis about the treatment of detainees.