BAGHDAD — Some 300 detainees were released this week in Iraq, bringing the total released this year to some 6,500, officials said Wednesday.

Members of the Iraqi parliament and Iraqi Human Rights Committee were on hand for the ceremony, which was the ninth such event since October.

The release ceremonies are part of a program now called "Lion’s Dawn."

Detainees are supposed to undergo a review board every six months in which they face a three-person U.S. military panel. Before being released, detainees pledge to an Iraqi judge that they will work for peace and maintain good conduct.

There are approximately 22,000 detainees in the U.S. facilities at Camp Cropper in western Baghdad and Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.

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