A total of 594 prisoners were released in Iraq today, state television reported, a day after new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on said a total of 2,500 would be freed to help foster national reconciliation.
About 110 detainees had been gathered at Baghdad's main bus station, where prisoners are taken before they are set free, witnesses at the scene said.
The prisoners were later released.
Mr Maliki, who has pledged to heal sectarian wounds and crush a Sunni Arab insurgency, said in a televised statement yesterday that the prisoner release would free those who had no clear evidence against them or had been mistakenly detained.
Initially, 500 people would be released today, he said, but did not give details.
Many of those in prison are from ousted President Saddam Hussein's once dominant Sunni community. It was not immediately clear whether prisoners were also freed in other parts of the country.
A critical UN human rights report last month said that there were 28,700 detainees in Iraq, including 5,000 held by the Interior Ministry even though it should only detain people for short periods of time.