The liberation of the Algerian nationals detained in Iraq represents a "priority" for the Algerian diplomacy and is "high" on the agenda of discussions between Algeria and Iraq at "different levels", Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
Questioned by APS about the Algerian detainees in Iraq, Abdelaziz Benali Cherif said that in accordance with the Algerian diplomacy’s mission which is to ensure the protection of Algerian nationals, this issue "always been high on the agenda of discussions with the Iraqi partner, at various levels."
The allegations that the Algerian authorities "turned their backs and are inert to the situation of those nationals," are "completely unfounded and I firmly deny them and I consider them as unjust and needlessly alarmist," said the spokesman, stressing that "thanks to the constant efforts with the Iraqi authorities, four out of the eleven detainees were released, including two freed on the occasion of Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra’s visit to Baghdad in January 2014, and returned with him to Algeria."
"The work continues with the same determination for the rapid liberation of the remaining detainees. Algeria's ambassador in Baghdad and Iraqi governmental and diplomatic figures are working patiently to make possible the return of these nationals to Algeria, clearing a path to this solution despite their complex legal situation, partly because of sentences for charges related or similar to terrorism," said the same source.
"The still ongoing diplomatic efforts, requiring in such sensitive cases, caution and perseverance so their sentences will be reduced or they will be granted presidential pardon, within the framework of respect for the sovereignty of Iraq and the Algerian-Iraqi brotherhood,” he concluded.