Iraq's Sadrists demand U.S. release former minister

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's political bloc demanded on Tuesday that the U.S. military release a former deputy health minister after terrorism charges against him were dropped.

Hakim al-Zamili, a leading member of Sadr's bloc, and Brigadier-General Hameed al-Shimari, the Health Ministry's former security chief, were tried on charges of abusing their position to allow sectarian killings.

Their trial was seen as a test of the willingness of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government to prosecute senior officials accused of corruption and of fomenting sectarian bloodshed.

The pair were charged after several people accused them of corruption and masterminding the kidnappings and killings of their family members, but the case ended because of a lack of evidence and witnesses, lawyers said.

Sadrist lawmaker Falah Shanshal demanded that Zamili and Shimari be released and paid compensation.

"The U.S. forces should respect the decision of the Supreme Judicial Council and apply it as soon as possible," Shanshal told a news conference.

"Amends must be made to Hakim al-Zamili, financially and morally."

U.S. embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said negotiations were under way for them to be released.

"They are in U.S. custody and my understanding is that the intention is to release them, pending results of ongoing consultations with government of Iraq authorities," she said in an e-mail to Reuters.

She did not say why the pair were still being held or when they might be released.

The embassy said after the charges were dropped on Monday that parts of the trial had appeared credible, and raised concerns about suspected witness intimidation and other possible irregularities.

Zamili was the first senior Iraqi official to face terrorism charges since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

He and Shimari were arrested by U.S. and Iraqi forces in February 2007 at the height of fighting between majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni Muslims that threatened to tip Iraq into all-out sectarian civil war.

Shi'ites loyal to Sadr have long complained of being targeted for arrest by U.S. and Iraqi security forces in southern Iraq. Sadr's feared Mehdi Army militia fought two pitched battles with U.S. forces in the south in 2004.

The U.S. military says it only arrests those it accuses of ignoring Sadr's ceasefire order, which was first issued last August and renewed for another six months in February.

(Additional reporting by Aws Qusay; Writing by Paul Tait)