[JURIST] The US military said Saturday that it has released over 10,000 Iraqi detainees [JURIST news archive] this past year. Gen. David H. Petraeus [official profile] was quoted by AP as saying the releases are part of a program to prepare detainees for re-integration into society. Petraeus also said the recidivism rate for released detainees is less than 1 percent. The announcement comes after a similar statement [JURIST report] made last month that 9,000 detainees had been released thusfar in 2008. AP has more.

Coalition detention practices have come under increasing scrutiny in recent months. In July, Iraqi Foreign Minister Moshyar Zebarai [BBC profile] indicated that disagreements between the US and Iraq, including disagreements over detainees, are still blocking a permanent Status of Forces Agreement [JURIST report] between the two countries. In June, Physicians for Human Rights released a report purporting to substantiate claims of abuse and torture [JURIST report] by detainees held in US prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archives].