300 Iraqi prisoners freed from torture jail

More than 300 Iraqi detainees, some weeping and waving to friends, were released from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison today, a day after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit and insisted the Pentagon did not try to cover up abuses there.

One bus carrying 40 prisoners left the jail and drove to an American military base in west Baghdad, where tribal leaders awaited some of them.