Tweet
Iraq sentences fugitive Vice President to death
September 9, 2012 - 17:01 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Fugitive Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi was
sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on Sunday, Sept 9 after he was
convicted of murder in a ruling likely to further exacerbate sectarian
tension, Reuters reported.
Hashemi, a Sunni, fled the country earlier this year after authorities
accused him of running a death squad. His case triggered a crisis in
the power-sharing government among Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish
political blocs.
"The high criminal court issued a death sentence by hanging against
Tareq al-Hashemi after he was convicted," Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, a
spokesman for the judiciary council said.
Hashemi and his son-in-law were both found guilty of two murders.
Under Iraqi law, a conviction is followed immediately by sentencing.
The death sentence can be appealed.
Since the last American troops left in December, Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government has been hamstrung by political
deadlock among the Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs. Upswings in
political tension are often accompanied by a surge in violence as
Sunni Islamists and a local al Qaeda wing seek to stir up the kind of
sectarian killing that dragged Iraq to the edge of civil war in
2006-2007.
Bombings and attacks across Iraq killed at least 58 people on Sunday,
including a bombing outside the French consular office in the southern
city of Nassiriya.
Hashemi, who is in Turkey, has accused Maliki of conducting a
political witch-hunt against Sunni opponents, but the government said
it was a judicial case.
After the fall of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and the rise of Iraq's
Shi'ite majority to power, many Iraqi Sunnis feel they have been
sidelined. Sunni politicians say Maliki is failing to live up to
agreements to share government power among the parties.
From: A. Papazian
September 9, 2012 - 17:01 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Fugitive Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi was
sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on Sunday, Sept 9 after he was
convicted of murder in a ruling likely to further exacerbate sectarian
tension, Reuters reported.
Hashemi, a Sunni, fled the country earlier this year after authorities
accused him of running a death squad. His case triggered a crisis in
the power-sharing government among Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish
political blocs.
"The high criminal court issued a death sentence by hanging against
Tareq al-Hashemi after he was convicted," Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, a
spokesman for the judiciary council said.
Hashemi and his son-in-law were both found guilty of two murders.
Under Iraqi law, a conviction is followed immediately by sentencing.
The death sentence can be appealed.
Since the last American troops left in December, Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government has been hamstrung by political
deadlock among the Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs. Upswings in
political tension are often accompanied by a surge in violence as
Sunni Islamists and a local al Qaeda wing seek to stir up the kind of
sectarian killing that dragged Iraq to the edge of civil war in
2006-2007.
Bombings and attacks across Iraq killed at least 58 people on Sunday,
including a bombing outside the French consular office in the southern
city of Nassiriya.
Hashemi, who is in Turkey, has accused Maliki of conducting a
political witch-hunt against Sunni opponents, but the government said
it was a judicial case.
After the fall of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and the rise of Iraq's
Shi'ite majority to power, many Iraqi Sunnis feel they have been
sidelined. Sunni politicians say Maliki is failing to live up to
agreements to share government power among the parties.
From: A. Papazian