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Iraqi president's
testimony rejected in trial of Sunni VP Hashemi
25.7.2012 |
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July 25, 2012
BAGHDAD, Iraq,— An Iraqi appeals court
Tuesday refused to allow President Jalal Talabani
testify in a terror trial against the nation’s Sunni
vice president, a case that has deepened the rift
between the country’s largely sectarian-based
political factions.
The latest session in the case against Vice
President Tariq al-Hashemi follows the bloodiest day
in Iraq in two years. Monday’s attacks killed 115
people and came on the heels of a declaration by
Al-Qaeda’s new leader that the movement hopes to
re-establish itself in Sunni areas and recreate
alliances with Sunni tribes.
Hashemi, one of Iraq’s highest-ranking Sunni
politicians, is accused of running death squads that
targeted Shiite officials and pilgrims. Hashemi, who
is in Turkey avoiding trial, has denied the
wrongdoing and has said he is the victim of a
political vendetta by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki.
Attorney Muayad Obeid al-Ezzi, the head of Hashemi’s
defense team, said Iraq’s federal appeals court
upheld an earlier decision by the Baghdad’s criminal
court to not take Talabani’s testimony.
In May, Hashemi filed a request to have Talabani, an
ethnic Kurd, serve as a character witness, along
with two other government officials and five Sunni
lawmakers. Defense lawyers sought to ask if they had
any information about Hashemi’s role in terror
attacks. But the three-judge panel rejected the
request, saying it would add nothing to the case.
Also in Tuesday’s session, the court heard more
testimony from five police officers who told the
court they found pistol silencers during two
separate raids on the homes of Hashemi and Ahmad
Qahtan,www.ekurd.net
his son-in-law and office manager. The court also
heard from a woman and her son, Qahtan’s neighbors,
who said they saw policemen taking silencers from
the house.
Another witness, one of more than 70 of Hashemi’s
guards in detention, told the government how he used
to drive other guards to plant roadside bombs.
The trial is scheduled to continue Aug. 14.
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency,
AP
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