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Iraq detains 16 Tareq al-Hashemi's guards
31.1.2012 |
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Hashemi is hiding in the autonomous Kurdistan region
of north Iraq after being accused of running a death
squad. Photo: AFP
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January 31, 2012
BAGHDAD, — Security forces have
detained 16 of Tareq al-Hashemi's bodyguards, Iraq's
interior ministry said, in a move the fugitive vice
president said Tuesday was nothing new in a series
of false accusations.
Hashemi is hiding in the autonomous Kurdistan region
of northern Iraq after being accused in mid-December
of running a death squad.
The Kurdistan authorities have so far declined to
hand him over to the central government for trial.
"Interior ministry security forces detained 16
members of Vice President of the Republic Tareq al-Hashemi's
guard, who were practicing assassinations with
silenced rifles and pistols targeting interior
ministry officers and judges," the ministry said in
a statement posted on its website on Monday.
The statement said the guards confessed after being
detained, and that the arrests followed confessions
by some of their colleagues.
Hashemi's office denounced the detentions and said
it "does not represent anything new in the series of
fabricated accusations, and will not attract the
attention of the Iraqi people."
A statement said the guards had previously been told
they were not wanted and allowed to go on leave, but
were later arrested.
"Is it reasonable that people involved in terrorist
activities prefer to return to a site that is sealed
off by (security forces) to be arrested, or is it
logical for them to take the first chance for them
to run away?" Hashemi asked,www.ekurd.net
noting that they had such a chance when they went on
leave.
Meanwhile, rights group Amnesty International has
said two women employed by Hashemi's office -- Rasha
Nameer Jaafer al-Hussein and Bassima Saleem Kiryakos
-- were detained on January 1 and that their
whereabouts were not known.
"Amnesty International fears both women may be at
risk of torture or other ill-treatment," Amnesty
said, adding that their arrests appeared to be
related to their association to Hashemi.
The December accusations against Hashemi came amid a
wider row between the secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya
bloc, of which he is a member, and the Shiite-led
government.
Iraqiya began a boycott of parliament and the
cabinet in December to protest what it charged was
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's centralization of
power, and it has since called for Maliki to respect
a power-sharing deal or quit.
Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for
Hashemi.
Maliki, a Shiite, has said his Sunni deputy Saleh
al-Mutlak should be sacked after the latter said the
premier was "worse than Saddam Hussein."
However, Iraqiya announced on Sunday that its MPs
would return to parliament, somewhat easing the
crisis, though it has not yet decided to return its
ministers to the cabinet.
Iraqiya won the most seats in March 2010
parliamentary elections but was outmaneuvered by
Maliki in forming a government.
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