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Iraq court sentences vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi to death Iraq vice-president sentenced to death amid deadly wave of insurgent attacks
(about 4 hours later)
Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice-president was sentenced on Sunday to death by hanging on charges he masterminded death squads against rivals in a terror trial that has fuelled sectarian tensions in the country. Underscoring the instability, insurgents unleashed an onslaught of bombings and shootings across Iraq, killing at least 82 people in one of the deadliest days this year.
Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice-president, Tariq al-Hashemi, has been sentenced to death after a Baghdad court found him guilty of masterminding the killings of a lawyer and a government security official, a ruling likely to deepen the country's sectarian divide. It appeared unlikely that the attacks in 13 cities were all timed to coincide with the afternoon verdict that capped a month-long case against Tariq al-Hashemi, a longtime foe of Shia prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. Still, taken together, the violence and verdict could energise Sunni insurgents bent on returning Iraq to the brink of civil war by targeting Shia and undermining the government.
Hashemi, who has denied the allegations, fled Iraq after the Shia-led government of Nouri al-Maliki charged him in December. He is believed to be in Turkey. The politically charged case sparked a crisis in Iraq's government and has fuelled Sunni Muslim and Kurdish resentment against Maliki, a Shia who critics say is monopolising power. Hashemi fled to Turkey in the months after the Shia-led government accused him of playing a role in 150 bombings, assassinations and other attacks from 2005 to 2011, years in which the country was mired in retaliatory sectarian violence that followed the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein's Sunni regime. Most of the attacks were allegedly carried out by Hashemi's bodyguards and other employees, and largely targeted government officials, security forces and Shia pilgrims.
The sentence was declared on on Sunday as insurgents killed at least 44 people in a wave of attacks against Iraqi security forces, gunning down soldiers at an army post and bombing police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs, officials said. The vice-president declined to immediately comment on the verdict after meeting with the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara. He said he would "tackle this issue in a statement" in coming hours.
The Baghdad courtroom was silent as the presiding judge read out the verdict convicting Hashemi and his son-in-law of organising the murders of a Shia security official and a lawyer who refused to help the vice-president's allies in terror cases. The politically charged case which was announced the day after US troops withdrew from the country last December sparked a government crisis and fuelled Sunni Muslim and Kurdish resentment against Maliki, who critics say is monopolising power.
The court sentenced both men in absentia to death by hanging. They have 30 days to appeal against the verdict. Violence has ebbed significantly, but insurgents continue to stage high-profile bombings and shooting rampages. Al-Qaida's Iraq branch has promised a comeback in predominantly Sunni areas from which it was routed by the US and its local allies after sectarian fighting peaked in 2007.
The judge said Hashemi was acquitted in a third case linked to the killing of a security officer, due to a lack of evidence. The case has fuelled resentment among Iraq's Sunni minority, and Hashemi has dismissed the charges against him as a political vendetta pursued by his longtime rival, Maliki. "These attacks show al-Qaida's ability to hit any place in Iraq and at any time," said Ali Salem, 40, an elementary school teacher in Baghdad. "The lack of security could take us back to zero."
Sunday's closing session of the trial provided a window into the politically charged nature of the case. The worst violence on Sunday struck the capital, where bombs pounded a half-dozen neighbourhoods – Sunni and Shia – throughout the day.
The defence team began its closing statement with a searing indictment of the judicial system, accusing it of losing its independence and siding with the Shia-led government. The deadliest attacks in Baghdad hit Shia areas on Sunday evening, hours after the Hashemi verdict was announced. In all, 32 people were killed in the capital and 90 wounded, according to police and hospital officials.
"From the beginning and through all procedures it has become obvious that the Iraqi judicial system has been under political pressure," Muayad Obeid al-Ezzi, the head of the defence team, told the court. The countrywide attacks began before dawn, with gunmen killing soldiers at an army post in the central Iraqi city of Dujail. A few hours later, a car exploded in a lot where police recruits were waiting to apply for jobs outside Kirkuk in the country's north. Dujail and Kirkuk are former insurgent strongholds.
The presiding judge immediately interjected, warning that the court would open legal proceedings against the defence team if it continued to heap accusations on the court or the judicial system. During the day, at least 82 people were killed and more than 330 wounded in at least 21 separate bombings and shooting attacks, according to reports from police and hospital officials. No group immediately claimed responsibility, but Iraq's interior ministry blamed al-Qaida.
The sentence will almost certainly deepen animosity in a country that only stepped back from the brink of civil war in 2007. "The attacks today on the markets and mosques are aimed at provoking sectarian and political tensions," the ministry said in a statement. "Our war against terrorism is continuing, and we are ready."
Sunday's violence included a car bombing outside a French consular building and an attack in Dujail, 30 miles north of Baghdad, where gunmen and a suicide bomber driving a car hit a military base, killing 11 soldiers and injuring seven, police sources said. The courtroom at Baghdad's criminal court was silent as the presiding judge read out the verdict. It convicted Hashemi and his son-in-law, Ahmed Qahtan, of organising the murders of a Shia security official and a lawyer who had refused to help the vice-president's allies in terror cases. The two defendants were acquitted in a third case of the killing of a security officer due to a lack of evidence.
A car bomb killed eight people who were queuing to apply to be recruited as police guards for the Iraqi North Oil Company in the flashpoint city of Kirkuk, police said. The court sentenced both men in absentia to death by hanging. They have 30 days to appeal the verdict and could win a retrial if they return to Iraq to face the charges. Hashemi has been in office since 2006 and is on Interpol's most-wanted list, but Turkey has shown no interest in sending him back to Baghdad.
The car bomb that exploded outside the French consular building in the usually stable city of Nassiriya killed a police guard and wounded four other guards, authorities said. The defence team began its closing statement with a searing indictment of Iraq's justice system, accusing it of showing no independence and siding with the Shia-led government.
Another car bomb also detonated in the city, killing two and wounding three. "From the beginning and through all procedures it has become obvious that the Iraqi judicial system has been under political pressure," attorney Muayad Obeid al-Ezzi, the head of the defence team, told the court.
More people were killed in other blasts across the country in the towns of Kirkuk, Samarra, Basra and Tuz Khurmato. The presiding judge immediately interjected, warning that the court would open legal proceedings against the defence team if it continued to heap accusations on the court or the legal system.
Reaction to the verdict was largely along sectarian lines on the streets of Baghdad.
Sunni lawyer Abdullah al-Azami called the trial "another farce to be added to the Iraqi judicial system".
Shia pharmacist Khalid Saied, meanwhile, said he supported the verdict and hoped the government would broadcast all the evidence against Hashemi "so that the entire world knows him".
Sunday's violence came amid fears that the insurgency has gained new strength after suffering heavy setbacks in US and Iraqi offensives. Four of the attacks targeted Kirkuk, where city police commander Sarhad Qadir blamed the violence on al-Qaida.
The carnage stretched into the country's south, where bombs exploded in the Shia-dominated city of Nasiriyah, 200 miles south-east of Baghdad. The blasts were near the French consulate and a local hotel in the city, although the consulate did not appear to be a target of the attack.
Local deputy health director Dr Adnan al-Musharifawi said two people were killed and three were wounded at the hotel, and one Iraqi policeman was wounded at the consulate. Musharifawi said no French diplomats were among the casualties. In Paris, France's foreign ministry said it "condemns with the greatest severity" the wave of attacks.
Smaller attacks on Sunday also struck nine other cities. It was one of the worst outbreaks of violence in Iraq in 2012, although the single deadliest day was 23 July 23, when least 115 people were killed – the most in more than two years.