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21-02-09 Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison renamed and reopens

Iraqi officials on Saturday formally reopened Abu Ghraib prison,which became synonymous with abuse under the U.S. occupation,and in addition to a fresh coat of paint, gave it a new name.The prison on the western outskirts of Baghdad earned global notoriety after U.S. jailkeepers filmed themselves tormenting and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners less than a year after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.The pictures sparked global anger and helped fuel a raging anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq that killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and has only started to fade in the past year.Renamed Baghdad Central Prison,it already has around 400 inmates,said prison director general Alsharif al-Murtadha Abdul al-Mutalib."The prison is officially open and we have received inmates. Hundreds are present," Mutalib told a swarm of reporters and cameramen at a media open house at the prison.Then-U.S. President George W. Bush called the abuse at Abu Ghraib a low point of his presidency.It fanned already widespread opposition in Europe and elsewhere to the U.S.-led war.Abu Ghraib is in an area that saw heavy fighting during the early years of Iraq's insurgency,and the U.S. military closed it in 2006 after constructing a giant,purpose-built prison camp in the desert on the Kuwaiti border