BAGHDAD, Feb 22, 2009 (AFP) - Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, made notorious by graphic pictures of abuse of detainees by US jailers, has reopened with top-of-the-range facilities and a new name, the justice ministry said on Sunday.
Abu Ghraib, which also served as a torture centre under executed dictator Saddam Hussein's ousted regime, has been completely renovated and equipped with a gym, a computer room and medical facilities, a top ministry official said.
The jail, where Iraqi families bemoaned the disappearance of loved ones to detention without trial by the US military in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion, now even boasts a visitor centre with a play centre to occupy the children of those visiting detainees.
"Baghdad central prison reopened on Saturday," assistant justice minister Bushu Dazai told AFP. It is now a "prison that is up to international standards," he said, adding that it could accommodate between 12,000 and 15,000 inmates.
The US-run prison closed its doors in 2006 but in February last year the Iraqi government, which has taken back the site, decided to renovate and reopen it to tackle prison overcrowding.
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Copyright AFP 2009.
