Iraq’s fugitive vice-president Tareq al-Hashemi and some of his bodyguards have been charged with murdering six judges and a series of other killings, according to a judiciary spokesman.
Mr Hashemi, one of Iraq’s top Sunni Muslim politicians, fled Baghdad in December when the Shia-led central government issued an arrest warrant, accusing him of running death squads. He is in Istanbul in Turkey and is not expected to attend the trial when it begins on Thursday.
Iraq’s delicately balanced ruling coalition of Shias, Sunnis and Kurds began to experience strains in December after US troops left. The government tried to remove Sunni deputy prime minister Saleh al-Mutlaq and made the accusations against Mr Hashemi. Mr Hashemi escaped to the autonomous Kurdish region in the north, where the authorities refused to hand him over. The central government and the Kurdish region have long-running disputes over political autonomy and contested territories.
He has offered to stand trial in Kirkuk – controlled by Sunnis and Kurds – but says he will not face the charges in Baghdad because he believes the courts are controlled by the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki. – (Reuters)