Top woman prisoner 'freed by Iraq'

Iraqi authorities and US forces have decided to free one of only two high-profile women prisoners currently in American custody, an Iraqi ministry spokesman said today.

Ministry spokesman Noori Abdul-Rahim Ibrahim, however, denied the decision was linked to a demand by militants who abducted two Americans and a Briton calling for the release of all female Iraqi prisoners.

“The Iraqi authorities have agreed with coalition forces to conditionally release Rihab Rashid Taha on bail”, Ibrahim said. “The decision has nothing to do with the threat made by the kidnappers.”

Taha, a scientist who became known as “Dr. Germ” for helping Iraq make weapons out of anthrax, and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a biotech researcher known as “Mrs. Anthrax,” are the only two Iraqi women held in American custody, according to the US military.

Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a US military spokesman, said he had no information about such a release.

“I do not know anything about that announcement,” he said.

Johnson said a group of Iraqi male detainees had previously been scheduled to be released today from Abu Ghraib prison.

An al-Qaida-linked group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed yesterday to have killed the second of two American hostages it kidnapped last week, saying US forces had failed to meet their demands for the release of women prisoners.

The claim could not be verified.

The militants are also holding a British hostage.