Iraq’s VP, facing terror trial in Baghdad, says he is target of campaign to muzzle dissent

Iraq’s vice president on Friday described a terror trial pending against him in Baghdad as part of a political vendetta that has wider repercussions for Iraqi unity and sectarian tensions across the Middle East.

The trial in absentia of Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim, was postponed Thursday as his lawyers appealed to have parliament create a special court to hear the case that could deepen Iraq’s sectarian divide. Al-Hashemi has denied charges that he ran death squads that targeted government officials, security forces and Shiite pilgrims.

Al-Hashemi also alleged that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, may have engineered the trial to snuff out domestic opposition in case he is threatened by a revolt in Iraq similar to that in neighboring Syria.

“It could be a pre-emptive attack” stemming from concern about the upheaval in Syria, al-Hashemi said in an interview with The Associated Press in Istanbul.

“Al-Maliki apparently is very much sensitive to what’s going on in Syria. So from the sectarian angle, he tried to immunize himself in the future in addressing one of the principal political rivals,” he said, referring to his role as a frequent critic of al-Maliki.

A media adviser for al-Maliki disputed claims that the vice president was being targeted for political reasons and said the government does not interfere in the judicial system.

“We do understand that al-Hashemi might say anything to protect himself,” spokesman Ali al-Moussawi said. “The fugitive vice president should go to court and defend himself instead of launching accusations and allegations.”

Al-Hashemi denies allegations he is a lawbreaker, opening a news conference in Istanbul with a declaration that he is not a fugitive. His representatives maintain he left Iraq for diplomatic meetings with regional leaders, not to escape arrest.

The case against al-Hashemi highlights rifts that haunt Iraq after decades of dictatorship, war and civil conflict, and the departure of American troops. It also follows regional revolts that have toppled or undermined authoritarian leaders in the Middle East.

Most in the Syrian opposition, for example, come from the country’s Sunni majority, while President Bashar Assad’s regime relies on the minority Alawites, an offshoot from Shiism. Sunni Arab leaders in the Gulf see the Shiite-led government in Iraq as too soft on Syria, where the United Nations estimates at least 9,000 people, many of them civilians, have died in a government crackdown on dissent.

Additionally, regional powers Iran, led by a Shiite theocracy, and Turkey, which is mostly Sunni but espouses unity across sectarian lines, have supported opposing factions in Iraq.

Al-Hashemi, who fled to Iraq’s self-ruled northern Kurdish region in December to avoid arrest, warned of regional spillover if Iraq’s factions cannot unite and address the mismanagement that he blamed on al-Maliki.

“Iraq is the core of the geopolitical scene in the area. Whatever happens in Iraq is going to affect the neighboring countries,” he said. “We could end up in some sort of sectarian polarization in the Middle East.”

Iraq’s political crisis pits the mostly Shiite leadership against Sunnis and Kurds who accuse it of consolidating power even as public services deteriorate and security remains vulnerable. Last week, Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish autonomous region, threatened to let Kurds vote to secede from Iraq if the government crisis has not been resolved by regional elections in September.

In the AP interview, al-Hashemi said he understood the frustration that led Barzani to talk about partition but said the possibility was “not on the table” in Kurdish circles, at least for now.

“I sit down from time to time with Kurdish leaders and we talk freely and openly about the subject,” al-Hashemi said. “All politicians are very much interested in reaching a political solution rather than jumping into an Iraqi partition.”

On his own dilemma, the vice president held out hope of a settlement.

“I am ready, in fact, to show up in any court provided that I do receive a fair trial, according to the constitution, according to the international justice standard,” he said.

Then he added: “The whole case is politically motivated, so it is waiting for a political solution, not a legal solution.”

Muted reaction to celebrated Lebanese Ayatollah Fadlallah's death

Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah was mourned by hundreds of thousands in Lebanon this week, but in Iraq's Shiite holy city of Najaf, where Fadlallah was born, the influential cleric received a chilly reception. No banners or open displays of mourning were seen as clergy in Najaf expressed discomfort over the ayatollah's legacy.

They faulted his relatively liberal religious teachings. In particular, some cited his defense of women's rights. Clergy also criticized Fadlallah's promotion of an activist role for clergy, far away from the more traditional school of noninterference advocated in Najaf.

"First of all ... Fadlallah belongs to the movement ... that interferes in politics, contrary to the classical or conservative schools that consider Najaf as a headquarters," said Sheik Nima Abbadi, a teacher of political sciences at the Hawza, Najaf's loose confederation of religious schools.

Abbadi said clergy in Najaf considered Fadlallah to be closer to the interventionist spirit of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic.

Najaf's clergy appeared bothered by Fadlallah’s more liberal decrees for men and women in Islam.

"He allows people to shave their beards, and women to beat their husbands," one cleric said, on condition of anonymity.

The disavowals of Fadlallah could also stem from the healthy completion among clergy. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most senior cleric in Iraq, while associated with a hands-off approach to politics, has himself provided guidance to Iraq's democracy since 2003.

Fadlallah's ties to the founders of Iraq's Dawa Party could also have played a factor in Najaf's cool reception to him. Iraq's Shiite elite are divided over who should be the country's next prime minister, and the celebration of a cleric, considered an early Dawa Party member, may have proven unpopular in Najaf. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, the current leader of the Dawa Party, follows Fadlallah's religious teachings. On Thursday, Maliki's office announced that the prime minister had gone to Beirut to pay his respects.

Iraqi Parliament to Convene

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says parliament will convene on July 13, which will mark only the second time lawmakers have met since the inconclusive national elections in March.

Zebari announced the meeting at a Thursday news conference in Irbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan.

The announcement comes a day after bombings targeting Shi'ite pilgrims killed at least 50 people in Baghdad. Iraqi officials say at least 12 people were killed in similar attacks in the capital, Thursday.

Insurgents have intensified attacks across Iraq in recent weeks in an apparent attempt to exploit a political stalemate that resulted from the country's inconclusive elections in March.

No political group emerged from the election with enough parliamentary seats to form a majority. An alliance led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi won the most seats - two more than a coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

However, Mr. Maliki has insisted he should run the government. His coalition has teamed up with the third-place Iraqi National Alliance.

Parliament convened briefly on June 14. Acting Speaker Fouad Massoum then adjourned the session, saying a speaker and a president for parliament would be chosen at a later date.

UN chief visits Iraq after peaceful local vote

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi officials on Friday, almost a week after the country held its most peaceful election since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, officials said.

Ban's unannounced visit followed a trip to Afghanistan, another battlefield in the U.S. war on terrorism launched by former President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks, and to India and Pakistan.

Ban was expected to meet Iraqi officials to discuss last Saturday's provincial election and other issues as Iraq begins to emerge from years of sectarian bloodshed and insurgency unleashed by the invasion.

The United Nations operates under heavy security and maintains a relatively low profile in Iraq, a legacy of the truck bomb that destroyed its Baghdad headquarters in August 2003, killing then U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and other U.N. workers.

But it played a big role in helping to organise the Jan. 31 regional elections, which did not witness a single major militant attack anywhere in the country.

Preliminary results released on Thursday showed that allies of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki scored spectacular gains across Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim south.

Elsewhere in the country, once dominant Sunni Arabs who boycotted Iraq's last local polls in 2005 regained political power in areas where their exclusion from local politics had fuelled resentment and a lingering insurgency.

In Iraq, Kurds walk out of parliament in protest

Kurdish lawmakers walked out of parliament Tuesday in protest over a vote on conditions for Iraq's provincial elections that called for ethnic groups to share power in Kirkuk, an oil-rich city that Kurds consider part of their territory.

The walkout, which included shouting and accusations of a conspiracy against Kurds, appeared to reduce the chances that the elections would be held this year. There is no law setting out election procedures.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have hoped that provincial balloting would ease tensions among the country's main ethnic and religious factions.

Although the measure Tuesday was passed by parliament through a secret ballot, it requires approval by the three-member presidential council, led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who is all but certain to reject the legislation.

The contentious issue was among several points that have delayed a vote on legislation to set up the first local elections since January 2005, when most Sunni Arabs and many followers of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr boycotted the vote. U.S. officials believe participation of such groups could go a long way toward righting the balance of power in provincial politics, in which a small number of parties, mainly Kurdish and Shiite Muslim, have dominated.

The elections, sought by U.S. officials for more than a year, have been stalled amid political competition, with parties in the Iraqi government fearing that local elections could cost them influence. Disagreements have centered on the question of whether voters should be allowed to choose individual candidates or pick from closed party lists. Lawmakers have also argued about whether parties could use religious imagery in the campaign and whether parties with links to militias could participate.

The government had aimed for elections in October. But the country's election commission announced over the weekend that the date was unrealistic and that the legislation must be passed by the end of the month if Iraq wanted to hold the elections by December.

The status of Kirkuk has proved to be a major stumbling block. Last week, the parliament's Kurdish bloc staged its first walkout over a draft of the electoral legislation because of its provision to either delay provincial elections in Kirkuk until the city's future is decided or to redistribute power equally among Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens.

The Kurds in parliament had argued that Tamim province, of which Kirkuk is the capital, should be treated no differently than any other region in Iraq. The Kurds swept to victory in 2005 provincial elections in Tamim, largely a result of the decision by Sunni Arabs to skip the vote. The Sunnis, who dominated Iraqi politics under Saddam Hussein's rule, now regret the decision.

Arabs fear that they would be subjected to discrimination under a Kurdish government in Kirkuk.

On Tuesday, Kurdish legislators said they intended to compromise on the electoral legislation but parliamentary Speaker Mahmoud Mashadani, a member of the parliament's main Sunni coalition, backed a measure to hold a secret ballot regarding the provision on Kirkuk.

The leader of the Kurdish bloc, Fuad Masoom, led his coalition's lawmakers out of parliament in anger. Kurdish lawmaker Adil Barwari said Masoom called Mashadani's move a conspiracy, and others shouted that the vote violated the constitution.

Of the remaining 142 lawmakers, 127 approved the measure. The provision called for a committee to be set up to review the problems in Kirkuk and take interim steps until local elections are scheduled, including apportioning power in the provincial government equally among Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens.

Arab lawmakers defended the push for a secret ballot, saying that parliament members would have been pressured by the Kurds to vote against the provision if it had been a public vote.

"It was feared that there might be pressure exerted on the MPs, so this was chosen in order to give them freedom to express their opinion," Sunni lawmaker Farhan Awad said.

Before Mashadani backed the call for a secret ballot, Barwari said, the Kurds had worked with their main Shiite partners on a compromise measure to set up their own parliamentary committee to investigate the situation in Kirkuk and delay elections.

The parliament's deputy speaker, Khalid Attiya, a prominent member of the ruling Shiite coalition, joined the Kurds in criticizing the vote.

"By doing this, we will likely lose the chance to hold elections in 2008," Attiya told reporters.

Kurdish politicians said the row was almost certain to slow progress on other contentious issues, such as a national oil law, which has stalled in parliament for more than a year.

Barwari said the quarrel could also spill into violence in northern Iraq if the measure approved Tuesday was ratified.

"The measure voted on today is impossible to be implemented peacefully in Kirkuk," he said.