The US-led coalition Saturday released about 120 prisoners from the infamous Abu Ghraib jail compound near Baghdad, relatives said.
The move comes on the eve of the three-day Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.
People who descended on the prison in the hope of having their relatives freed told AFP that US forces had released about 120 before noon.
"They told us that more will be freed in the afternoon," said Mohammed Jaber Jassem. He said about 80 members of his Jubur tribe are in jail.
Abdul Ameer Adwan said his 17-year-old son Anas was arrested 45 days ago and hoped that he would be released before the Eid.
He said US forces took away the young man, a student at a technical college, during a raid in the Aadhamiya neighbourhood of Baghdad.
"They said he is part of the resistance but he is not," Adwan said.
On January 7, in the wake of the capture of former dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq's US overseer Paul Bremer announced that security prisoners would be freed under certain conditions, including having a guarantor who could vouch for them. Just over 500 prisoners were slated to be freed in the weeks following the announcement, according to coalition officials.
There are about 6,700 security prisoners being held by the US-led coalition in post-war Iraq.
The coalition refuses to divulge any information about freed prisoners, citing security and individual privacy.
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