| Page 2 of 2 < |
Shiite-Led Iraqi Ministry Seeks Arrest of Top Sunni Cleric
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
In explaining the arrest warrant, Bolani, the interior minister, said that "the government's policy is that anyone who tries to spread division and strife among the Iraqi people will be chased by our security agencies. . . . We have to prove for everyone that the government is national and it is going forward with major steps to achieve security and to achieve its political program."
In November 2004, U.S. troops raided the homes of Dhari and another senior official of the scholars association, triggering clashes in Baghdad near the association's headquarters and a mosque widely known for its militancy. Less than a year later, in June 2005, U.S. and Iraqi troops again raided Dhari's home.
A prominent Sunni member of Iraq's parliament, Saleh al-Mutlak, said he planned to ask parliament to shut down until the government revokes the warrant.
Several Sunni leaders called the order to arrest Dhari an attempt to deflect attention from the government, which is under enormous pressure to find the kidnappers of scores of Iraqis from a Higher Education Ministry building on Tuesday, one of the biggest mass abductions since the U.S.-led invasion. In the bold daylight raid, about 80 gunmen, dressed in police commando uniforms and driving police vehicles, abducted as many as 150 men.
On Thursday, Abed Thiyab, the minister of higher education, who is Sunni, said that some of the captives had been tortured and killed and that as many as 80 remained in the hands of their captors.
But Iraq's national security adviser issued a statement saying that only 50 Iraqis had been kidnapped and that all had been released. The Interior Ministry also declared all the captives were free, and the office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki dismissed suggestions that any were tortured.
Special correspondents Saad al-Izzi, Naseer Mehdawi and Waleed Saffar and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.
