URGENT / Human rights minister on surprise visit to Falluja

ANBAR / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi minister of human rights on Saturday arrived in Falluja city along with the deputy prime minister and an Interior Ministry general inspector to check on detainees in the city’s prisons and detention centers. “We were relieved to see all detainees in good condition and to know that all instructions and human rights laws are implemented..,” Minister Wijdan Mikhail Salim told IraqiNews.com following her visit to Falluja’s police department . Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, lies 110 km west of Baghdad . Anbar is the largest province in Iraq geographically. Encompassing much of the country’s western territory, it shares borders with Syria , Jordan and Saudi Arabia . Anbar is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim Arab. Anbar’s main cities are Falluja, the capital Ramadi, Haditha, Hit, Aana and Rutba. The name of the province translates “granaries,” as this region was the primary entrepôt on the western borders of Lakhmid Kingdom . The province was known as Dulaim until 1962 when it was changed to Ramadi. In 1976 it was renamed al-Anbar. SS (S) 1