Reuters reports: "Fugitive vice-president Tareq al-Hashemi was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on Sunday after he was convicted of murder in a ruling likely to further exacerbate sectarian tension."

Tareq al-Hashemi has been sentenced to death by hanging by an Iraqi court. (photo: Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud/Reuters)

Iraqi Vice-President Given Death Sentence Over Killings

By Reuters

09 September 12

ugitive vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on Sunday after he was convicted of murder in a ruling likely to further exacerbate sectarian tension.Hashemi, a Sunni, fled the country earlier this year after authorities accused him of running a death squad. His case triggered a crisis in the power-sharing government among Sunni, Shia and Kurdish political blocs.

Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, a spokesman for the judiciary council, said: "The high criminal court issued a death sentence by hanging against Tareq al-Hashemi after he was convicted."

Hashemi and his son-in-law were both found guilty of two murders. Under Iraqi law, a conviction is followed immediately by sentencing. The death sentence can be appealed against.

Since the last US troops left in December, prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shia-led government has been hamstrung by political deadlock among the Shia, Sunni and Kurdish blocs.

Rising political tensions are often accompanied by a surge in violence, as Sunni Islamists and al-Qaida seek to stir up the kind of sectarian killing that dragged Iraq to the edge of civil war in 2006.

Bombings and attacks across Iraq killed at least 44 people on Sunday. One bombing occurred outside the French consular office in the southern city of Nassiriya.

Hashemi, who is in Turkey, has accused Maliki of conducting a political witch-hunt against Sunni opponents but the government said it was a judicial case.

After the fall of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and the rise of Iraq's Shia majority to power, many Iraqi Sunnis feel they have been sidelined. Sunni politicians say Maliki is failing to live up to agreements to share government power among the parties.

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+7 # coffeewriter 2012-09-09 15:40

Death squads, death sentences, political infighting and witch-hunts...t hese Middle East countries are on the slippery slope to becoming like the US of A

+2 # X Dane 2012-09-09 22:02

How wonderful that we "liberated" the Iraqis. Since the "liberation" so many thousands of people have been killed or maimed, countless car bombings happens with frightening frequency. We can certainly be proud of ourselves!!!!

-3 # Wilbur 2012-09-09 23:18

What a lack of sophistication in coffee's reply! While the U.S. has more than its share of "witch hunts" and political infighting, we hardly have death squads roaming the streets, or dozens killed by sectarian bombings. A sarcastic response might imply the U.S. is on the verge of open civil war; nothing could be further from the truth, thankfully.

+2 # fliteshare 2012-09-10 06:05

Yep, We learned from our former colonial masters (the Brits) to stir the hatred up amongst the peoples we conquered. It's called. "Divide and Rule". Noting new here, as a matter of fact, it is as old as the Roman empire.

+3 # slimslider 2012-09-10 07:03

We don't have death squads and public bombings in the US of A. We have a society of ultra rich "killing" the economy and drawing the life-blood out of a fair capitalistic society. the founding fathers worked so diligently to implement the checks and balances in government as they knew the nature of men. The ultra rich discovered they could simply buy the government and get around the annoyance of checks and balances. So the death squads in this nation are the devices the 1 per-centers use to kill competition and the economy. No need for bomb squads as soon there will be little left to blow up.

0 # barzileel 2012-09-10 08:44

Is there any reason to believe that this guy is actually guilty as charged? No doubt he's guilty of something but then, aren't we all?

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