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Iraq

Iraq's Sunni leaders accuse PM of crackdown

2012-12-22

[Al Ahram] Iraq's Sunni leaders accused Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki of a political crackdown after troops raided the finance minister's office and home, threatening to reignite a crisis a year after the last American troops left. The raids and detention of the Sunni minister's staff came hours after President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who often mediated among the fractious Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs, left for Germany after suffering a stroke that could end his moderating influence in Iraqi politics. Politicians and authorities gave conflicting accounts of the incident, but it was reminiscent of a year ago when Iraqi authorities sought the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and his bodyguards, accusing them of running death squads just as U.S. troops packed up. Finance Minister Rafie al-Esawi, a member of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, said late on Thursday that more than 100 bodyguards and staff were snatched illegally by militias, and blamed Maliki for orchestrating the raids to target opponents. Maliki's office said only six bodyguards were incarcerated Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! under counter terrorism laws. The Hashemi case plunged the fragile power-sharing deal among Shi'ite and Sunni Moslems and Kurds into turmoil, with Sunni politicians boycotting parliament. Hashemi later fled to Turkey and was sentenced to death in absentia. "This confirms there is continued systematic targeting of the Sunni symbols and leaders participating in the political process," Iraqiya leaders said in a statement. They called on their supporters to protest peacefully after Friday prayers. Esawi said politicians would seek a vote of no confidence in Maliki. A U.S. embassy front man said: "Any actions from any party that subverts the rule of law or provokes ethnic or sectarian tension risks undermining the significant progress Iraq has made toward peace and stability." Ali al-Moussawi, Maliki's media advisor, said the judiciary had issued arrest warrants for six of the minister's bodyguards and accused rival politicians of trying to stir tensions by linking the case to the premier. "The law and judiciary for them have no value, they see only political differences," Moussawi said. "They blame Maliki for everything."

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Iraq

Iraq Court Sentences Fugitive VP's Guards to Death

2012-11-30

[An Nahar] Four of runaway Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's bodyguards were sentenced to death on Thursday for killing a civil defense officer and his wife, judicial front man Abdelsattar Bayraqdar said. The sentences were handed down by the Central Criminal Court for the killings in west Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... in 2011, Bayraqdar told AFP. Death sentences were given to two Hashemi guards on November 8 and six on November 6. The Thursday sentences bring the total number of sentences handed to Hashemi's guards to 12, but it was not immediately clear if some guards had received multiple sentences. Hashemi, a top Sunni official and a prominent critic of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... , has himself been handed four death sentences on twelve systems in absentia. He dismisses the charges against he and his staff as politically motivated. Hashemi, his secretary and his guards were originally accused of running a death squad in mid-December 2011 as the last U.S. troops left the country. He fled to Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, which declined to hand him over to the federal government, and then embarked on a tour that took him to Qatar and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... , and finally to Turkey.

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Iraq

Qaida Claims Latest Deadly Iraq Attacks

2012-09-11

Al-Qaeda front organization the Islamic State of Iraq posted a claim on the Internet Monday for a wave of more than 30 attacks around the country that killed more than 88 people. The bombings and shootings were in response to the "campaign of extermination and torture of Sunni Mohammedan detainees in Safavid prisons," the statement said in a pejorative reference to the Shiite-led government implying that it was under the domination of formerly Safavid-ruled neighboring Iran. Iraq executed 26 convicts in August, many implicated in attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda. "This message... will be followed by another. Today will be a new black day," the posting added. The wave of attacks across Iraq killed 88 people and maimed more than 400 on Saturday and Sunday, security and medical sources said, with the security forces and markets among the targets. The latest violence brings the number of people killed already this month to 118, according to an AFP tally. While Death Eaters opposed to the Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... government are regarded as weaker than in past years, they are still capable of launching periodic mass-casualty attacks across the country. The latest assaults came as Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a leading Sunni, was sentenced in absentia on Sunday to hang for murder, although the carnage began hours before the sentence was handed down.

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Iraq

Iraq crisis escalates with calls for PM to go

2012-06-04

The protracted drama has seen Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s deputy revert to decrying him as a ‘dictator’ and the leader of the autonomous Kurdish region call for him to go on one side, while the premier insists he has sufficient backing to stay on the other. “The political crisis has reached its highest level since its beginning, but it is still running within the framework of the democratic game,” Iraqi political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari said. “The country is paralyzed on all levels; there is a clear political paralysis paralleled by governmental negligence and a failure of the legislative authority, while the people are disappointed and afraid of the security consequences,” Shammari said. The trouble began in earnest in mid-December, when the secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc began a boycott of parliament and the cabinet over what it said was Maliki’s centralisation of power. For his part, Maliki sought to sack Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak, an Iraqiya member who had labelled the premier “worse than Saddam Hussein.” That month, an arrest warrant was issued for Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, also of Iraqiya, for allegedly running a death squad. Hashemi fled to the autonomous Kurdistan region in north Iraq, which declined to hand him over to Baghdad and then permitted him to leave on a regional tour that took him to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. He is now being tried in absentia in Iraq. Kurdistan further entered the fray when its chief, Massud Barzani, launched a series of attacks against Maliki. In April, the region stopped oil exports, claiming Baghdad has allegedly withheld more than $1.5 billion (1.2 billion euros) that Kurdish officials say is owed to foreign oil companies working in the region. And powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose parliamentary bloc is part of the national unity government along with Iraqiya and the Kurdish alliance, referred to the premier as a ‘dictator’ hungry for acclaim, and accused him of wanting to postpone or cancel elections. But Maliki opponents have now moved from merely criticizing the premier to talk of actually removing him from office.

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Iraq

Iraq crisis escalates with calls for PM to go

2012-06-03

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A series of intertwined political crises that began with accusations that Iraq's prime minister was consolidating power have escalated into calls to unseat him, and paralysed the country's government. The protracted drama has seen Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's deputy revert to decrying him as a "dictator" and the leader of the autonomous Kurdish region call for him to go on one side, while the premier insists he has sufficient backing to stay on the other. "The political crisis has reached its highest level since its beginning, but it is still running within the framework of the democratic game," Iraqi political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari said. "The country is paralysed on all levels; there is a clear political paralysis paralleled by governmental negligence and a failure of the legislative authority, while the people are disappointed and afraid of the security consequences," Shammari said. The trouble began in earnest in mid-December, when the secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc began a boycott of parliament and the cabinet over what it said was Maliki's centralisation of power. For his part, Maliki sought to sack Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak, an Iraqiya member who had labelled the premier "worse than Saddam Hussein." That month, an arrest warrant was issued for Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, also of Iraqiya, for allegedly running a death squad. Hashemi fled to the autonomous Kurdistan region in north Iraq, which declined to hand him over to Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... and then permitted him to leave on a regional tour that took him to Qatar, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... and Turkey.

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Iraq

Lawyers for Fugitive Iraq VP Withdraw from Case

2012-05-21

[An Nahar] Lawyers for Iraq's runaway Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni who is accused of running a death squad, on Sunday withdrew from the case, on the grounds their appeals had been rejected. The vice president, last known to be in Turkey, is the subject of an Interpol red notice calling for his arrest but says he fears for his life in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... . He is being tried in absentia on charges he says are politically motivated. "We decided to withdraw from the case as the appeals commission did not review the appeals we presented to it," Muayad al-Izzi, the head of Hashemi's defense team, told news hounds. The Central Criminal Court of Iraq, which held the fourth hearing on the case on Sunday, responded by appointing two new lawyers to replace those who withdrew. Hashemi had said in a May 17 statement on his website that he was considering withdrawing his lawyers due to "legal violations." These included the trial not being transferred to another venue and Hashemi's lawyers not being permitted to meet with accused members of his staff or witnesses individually, the statement said. Hashemi, one of Iraq's top Sunni Arab officials, was accused in December of running a death squad and, along with his staff and bodyguards, faces around 150 charges. The accusations were first leveled in December after U.S. troops completed their withdrawal, during a political crisis in which his bloc boycotted cabinet and parliament, accusing Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... of monopolizing power. After the initial charges were filed, the vice president fled to the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, whose authorities declined to hand him over to the central government. They then allowed him to leave on a tour of the region that has taken him to Qatar, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... and now Turkey. Ankara has said it will not extradite him to Iraq.

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Iraq

Maliki Says Turkish Remarks Do Not Show 'Mutual Respect'

2012-05-11

[An Nahar] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... criticized Turkey on Thursday for remarks he said did not show "mutual respect", in the latest bout of a weeks-long spat between the two neighbors. Maliki's comments came as Turkey said it would not extradite runaway Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is accused of running death squads and is the subject of an Interpol international Red Notice. "We do not have any problems with Turkey," Maliki told NRT, a Kurdish satellite channel, according to a statement issued by his office that included quotes from the yet-to-be broadcast interview. "We do not want to antagonize Turkey, or Iran, or America, or Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... , or any other country, but what happened and the remarks issued by Turkey do not show mutual respect." His remarks come after Iraq and Turkey last month summoned each other's ambassadors to express their displeasure over a worsening row. At the time, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Maliki, a Shiite, of stoking sectarian tensions between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, and of monopolizing power. Maliki fired back, saying such comments "will damage Turkey's interests and makes it a hostile state for all." The Iraqi premier's latest comments came as Turkish deputy prime minister Bekir Bozdag said on Wednesday that Ankara would not extradite Hashemi, whose trial in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... is due to begin on May 15 after two delays.

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The Grand Turk

Turkey refuses to extradite Iraqi vice-president: deputy PM

2012-05-09

Turkey will not extradite Iraq's fugitive Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is being tried in absentia in Baghdad accused of running a death squad, a senior official was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "We will not extradite someone whom we have supported since the very beginning," deputy prime minister Bekir Bozdag was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. His comments came a day after Interpol issued an international Red Notice for the arrest of Hashemi, one of Iraq's top Sunni Arab officials, on suspicion of "guiding and financing terrorist attacks". "(Hashemi) is currently in Turkey for health reasons," Bozdag said. Absolutely. His health could be in danger if he returns to Iraq.

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Iraq

Kurdistan Chief Says Iraq PM Must Not Obtain F-16s

2012-04-24

[An Nahar] Massoud Barzani ... hereditary head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, maybe a little too close to the Medes and the Persians for most people's tastes... , the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan, said he opposes the sale of F-16 warplanes to Iraq while Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... is premier, as he fears they would be used against the region. The United States has agreed to sell 36 F-16 jets to Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... in a multi-billion-dollar deal aimed at increasing the capabilities of Iraq's decampedgling air force, a weak point in its national defenses. "The F-16 must not reach the hand of this man," Barzani told news hounds at his residence near the Kurdistan region's capital Arbil on Sunday, referring to Maliki. "We must either prevent him from having these weapons, or if he has them, he should not stay in his position," Barzani said. Barzani alleged that Maliki had discussed using F-16s against Kurdistan during a meeting with military officers. "During a military meeting, they talked about problems between Storied Baghdad and Arbil," Barzani said. "They told him, 'Sir, just give us the authority, and we would kick them out of Arbil,'" Barzani said. "And (Maliki) answered: 'Wait until the arrival of the F-16.'" There are long-running disagreements between Kurdistan and the central government over disputed territory and dozens of energy contracts Kurdistan has signed without the approval of Storied Baghdad, but tensions have recently reached a new high. Barzani accused Maliki of aiming to "kill the democratic process" after the head of Iraq's electoral commission was tossed in the clink for alleged corruption, and previously said Maliki was moving toward dictatorship. Earlier this month, Kurdistan stopped oil exports over $1.5 billion owed to foreign oil companies working in the region that it says Storied Baghdad has withheld. The central government's top two oil officials responded by saying Arbil owed Storied Baghdad more than $5 billion in promised exports, and was smuggling the oil it produced to Iran. Kurdistan also hosted Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi after he was accused of running a death squad and declined to hand him over to the central government. The region then permitted the runaway official to leave on a trip that first took him to Qatar, then Soddy Arabia, and now Turkey.

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Iraq

Iraq summons Turkish envoy over Erdogan broadside

2012-04-23

Iraq, locked in a public row with neighboring Turkey, has summoned Ankara's ambassador in Baghdad to protest at critical remarks by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, the foreign ministry said on Monday. The envoy, Younis Demerer, heard the Iraqi complaint on Sunday after several days of charge and counter-charge. Erdogan accused his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki on Thursday of stoking conflict between Shi'ite Muslims, Sunni Muslims and Kurds through "self-centered" behavior. Maliki fired back that Turkey was becoming a "hostile state" with a sectarian agenda, saying it was meddling in Iraqi affairs and trying to establish regional "hegemony". Erdogan returned to the fray on Saturday, saying: "If we respond to Mr. Maliki, we give him the opportunity to show off." Analysts say mainly Sunni Turkey is worried that growing tensions in Iraq and violence in their mutual neighbor Syria may lead to a wider Sunni-Shi'ite conflict in the region. Erdogan's government has also recently forged close ties with Masoud Barzani, president of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which is embroiled in a row with the Baghdad government over claims to the city of Kirkuk and the region's oil. "(Foreign ministry undersecretary) Mr. Labeed Abbawi acquainted the Turkish Ambassador with the Iraqi government's intense protest against the recent statements," the Iraqi foreign ministry said on its website. "Undersecretary Abbawi expressed hope that the Turkish government will stop giving statements that affect Iraq's sovereignty and internal affairs." Erdogan has criticized Maliki several times since sectarian tensions flared in Iraq in December when the Shi'ite-led government tried to remove Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq and sought an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on charges he ran death squads. Isn't it interesting how Maliki and Erdogan are squaring off, and the Iraqi Kurds are all of a sudden playing kissy-face with the Turks?

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Iraq

Hashemi Says Iraq Extradition Demand Unlawful

2012-04-03

DOHA: Iraq's runaway Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi on Monday rejected Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... 's demand for Qatar to hand him over, saying he enjoys constitutional immunity and has not been convicted. "There has not been a judicial decision against me from any court, and the demand does not respect Article 93 of the constitution, which provides me with immunity," he told AFP in the Qatari capital. Earlier, Storied Baghdad had demanded Doha hand over Hashemi, who is accused of running a death squad, and who arrived in the Gulf state on Sunday from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan, where he decamped in December. "Why do they demand that Qatar extradite me?. Officials in Kurdistan have responded to a similar request by telling them that I have immunity according to Article 93," Hashemi said. Hashemi told AFP he would return to Kurdistan after a "tour around some capitals" which he did not name. Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani condemned Qatar's welcoming of Hashemi as "unacceptable" and demanded his extradition. "The state of Qatar receiving a wanted person is an unacceptable act and Qatar should back off from this stance, and return him to Iraq," he told a news conference in Storied Baghdad. afp

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Iraq

Iraq Insists VP's Dead Bodyguard Not Tortured. Really.

2012-03-23

[An Nahar] Claims by Iraq's runaway Sunni vice president that his bodyguard was tortured while in jug were denied on Thursday by authorities, who insisted he died of kidney failure. Amir Sarbut Zaidan al-Batawi died earlier this month and his body was handed over to his family, with Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, wanted by Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... on terror charges, releasing photographs he said showed the 33-year-old married father-of-three was tortured. A senior Iraqi general and a judicial front man, however, said Batawi died of acute cirrhosis kidney failure and other conditions after refusing treatment. "He died because he had a serious disease in his kidney, and he refused to be tested and to be treated," Lieutenant General Hassan al-Baydhani, chief of staff of Storied Baghdad's security command center, told Agence La Belle France Presse on Thursday. Why would a 33 year old man refuse treatment? Were they going to treat his kidney failure with pliers? Asked about Hashemi's claims of holding photographic evidence of Batawi suffering torture, Baydhani replied, "It is easy for Photoshop to show anything," referring to a popular digital photo editing software. Higher Judicial Council front man Abdelsattar Birakdar added that Batawi was regularly examined by doctors at multiple Storied Baghdad hospitals and in the prison where he was being held. Birakdar said Sherlocks filmed Batawi confessing to criminal activity on January 14, but declined to give specifics, and said he was involved in no further inquiries afterwards. "The dear departed's corpse was sent to the morgue for his appointment with Doctor Quincy to state the cause of death," he said in a statement. "The initial autopsy showed the cause of death to be extreme diarrhea, reduction in blood pressure, and kidney failure." Hashemi released a statement on Wednesday in which he said Batawi had died and his body was handed to his family on March 18, around three months after his initial arrest. "There were signs of torture in several parts of his body, including several sensitive places, a cause of savage methods used on him during the investigation," the statement said. Birakdar said the body was transferred on March 20. It was unclear what was behind the discrepancy. In December, shortly after U.S. troops completed their withdrawal from Iraq, the country's Shiite-led authorities issued an arrest warrant for Hashemi, a Sunni, on terror charges, sparking a protracted political crisis. Hashemi, who has remained in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region for the duration of the row, says the allegations are politically-motivated and Kurdish officials have refused to hand him over to the central government.

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