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Iraqi parliament's speaker brother
kidnapped in Kirkuk
9.11.2005
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Kirkuk,
Kurdistan-Iraq 9 Nov. (AKI) - Gunmen have kidnapped
a brother of the Iraqi parliament's speaker Hajim
al-Hassani, in the northern city of Kirkuk. An Iraqi
police source told Adnkronos International (AKI) he
was seized at around 6pm on Tuesday evening, when
armed men stopped him on a road in the al-Wasiti
area, near one of the city's main squares. Search
teams were immediately sent out, but police still
have no information about who carried out the attack
or where he might have been taken, the source said.
"We can't accuse anyone at the moment of having
carried out this act, we have to wait a few days
when a statement will probably be issued claiming
responsibility, or those who kidnapped him will get
in contact to communicate their demands and
reasons," he told AKI.
Al-Hakimi is a moderate Sunni Arab from Kirkuk who
spent many years in the United States and was active
in the opposition movement to Saddam Hussein while
living in exile, rising through the ranks of the
Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP). He then returned to Iraq
following the US invasion in 2003, and was
previously the industry minister in Iyad Allawi's
interim government. When the IIP quit the
government, al-Hassani chose to leave the party so
he could stay on as minister.
He provoked anger among the Sunnis by backing the US
military assault on Fallujah a year ago, but later
helped distribute humanitarian aid in the devastated
city. However, he is considered an outsider by most
Sunni Arabs and viewed with some suspicion by
Shiites.
In July 2004 he escaped an assassination attempt
when he left the headquarters of the IIP in Baghdad
ten minutes before rebels attacked it with mortar
fire.
Earlier this year he was offered the post of speaker
in the government following months of wrangling over
the position, and after interim president Ghazi al-Yawer
turned it down.
Many members of his family still live in Kirkuk,
despite the serious security situation in the
oil-rich city, located some 250 kilometres to the
north of Baghdad. Government officials and members
of their family are often attacked or kidnapped by
insurgents trying to bring down the Shiite and
Kurdish-dominated government.
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