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Evidence against barred Iraq candidates to
be released
28.2.2010
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February 28, 2010
BAGHDAD, —
Evidence that led to candidates being barred from
Iraq's March 7 election for suspected links to
Saddam Hussein will be released in the coming days,
the head of the committee that disqualified them
told AFP on Saturday.
Ali al-Lami said the evidence was being organised by
the Justice and Accountability Committee (JAC) so
that it could be presented to the media before the
parliamentary election takes place next Sunday.
"We have already decided to release these documents
this week," he said in an interview in Baghdad. "The
most important thing is to release the information
before the election."
Asked to provide a specific day when the documents
would be made public, Lami declined to give details. |
Iraqi Ali al-Lami, head of the Justice and
Accountability Committee (JAC), AFP photo |
"Announcing the release
of these documents needs a press conference," he
said.
"The press conference requires some preparation.
Showing these documents to the media also needs some
preparation to collect all the documents, to print
them, etc."
Asked why preparations were taking time, Lami
replied: "Why do you want everything to go so fast?
We haven't completed our preparations, we need time.
We are also having some problems with the candidate
Saleh al-Mutlak."
Mutlak, head of leading Sunni Arab grouping the
National Dialogue Front, was the most high-profile
candidate barred from the election for alleged ties
to Saddam's now outlawed Baath Party.
Mutlak insists that he was kicked out of the Baath
party in 1977, two years before Saddam became
president, because he opposed its policies.
Lami said the JAC had evidence that Mutlak had
financially supported armed groups that had killed
Iraqis, in the form of confessions from detainees
and arrested suspects,www.ekurd.netbut
he did not say when this was alleged to have
occurred.
"We have sent all this evidence to the prosecutor
and it will be sent to the Central Criminal Court of
Iraq," he said.
"The law will take its course. Until now, we don't
know if we are able to announce this information and
documents or not, because we are waiting for the
opinion of the court.
"Maybe the detainees' confessions cannot be released
because it will affect the security situation."
He said that the JAC would still publish all of the
other available evidence against candidates.
According to Lami, a total of 511 candidates were
initially barred, but 28 were eventually reinstated.
The election, the second parliamentary ballot since
Saddam was toppled, is seen as a test of
reconciliation between the Sunni Arab minority that
dominated the now executed dictator's regime and the
Shiite majority that leads the government of Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Around 19 million people have the right to vote,
including 1.4 million citizens living in 16
countries abroad, according to organisers.
A total of 6,500 candidates will contest the
election which will feature 10,000 polling stations
and 54,000 ballot boxes, according to Iraq's
Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
Copyright, respective author or news agency, AFP
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