U.S. says Iraqis may still be held without charge

By Peter Graff and Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Some prisoners held indefinitely without charge by U.S. forces in Iraq may not be freed or given trials, even though U.S. forces lost the authority to hold them at the beginning of this year, a U.S. military spokesman said.

Iraqi legal experts said the plans -- which would apply to prisoners U.S. forces believe are dangerous or of intelligence value but have not been charged with a crime -- might violate Iraqi law by placing detainees beyond the reach of the courts.

U.S. forces are holding 15,000 prisoners, most of whom have been detained without charge under the authority of a U.N. Security Council resolution which expired on Dec. 31.

Under the terms of a bilateral pact which took effect on Jan. 1, Washington agreed that all its prisoners would either be transferred to Iraqi custody under arrest warrants from Iraqi judges, or freed "in a safe and orderly manner".

The agreement does not mention any mechanism for continuing to hold prisoners without charge, and Iraqi legal experts say there is no such provision under Iraqi law.

But U.S. military spokesman Major Neal Fisher said Washington will ask Iraq not to free prisoners it considers "'radical extremists' or 'enduring threats'".

"There will be cases in which a detainee falls into the category of high intelligence value or is a high threat but has not violated an Iraqi law, and thus should be released based on the security agreement," he said in an e-mail.

"We seriously desire that they will choose to keep these particular detainees off the streets."