BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces have detained 16 of Tareq al-Hashemi s
bodyguards, the interior ministry said, in a move the fugitive vice
president said Tuesday was the latest in a string of false
accusations.Hashemi is hiding in the autonomous Kurdish region of
northern Iraq after the Baghdad authorities issued a warrant for his
arrest in mid-December on charges of running a death squad.The Kurdistan
authorities have so far declined to hand him over to the central
government for trial.'Interior ministry security forces detained 16
members of Vice President of the Republic Tareq al-Hashemi s guard, who
were practising assassinations with silenced rifles and pistols
targeting interior ministry officers and judges,' the ministry said in a
statement posted on its website on Monday.The statement said the guards
confessed after being detained, and that the arrests followed
confessions by some of their colleagues.Hashemi s office denounced the
detentions and said it 'does not represent anything new in the series of
fabricated accusations, and will not attract the attention of the Iraqi
people.'A statement said the guards had previously been told they were
not wanted and allowed to go on leave, but were later arrested.'Is it
reasonable that people involved in terrorist activities prefer to return
to a site that is sealed off by (security forces) to be arrested, or is
it logical for them to take the first chance for them to run away?'
Hashemi asked, noting that they had such a chance when they went on
leave.Meanwhile, human rights group Amnesty International said two women
employed by Hashemi s office -- Rasha Nameer Jaafer al-Hussein and
Bassima Saleem Kiryakos -- were detained on January 1 and that their
whereabouts were not known.'Amnesty International fears both women may
be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment,' Amnesty said, adding that
their arrests appeared to be related to their association to
Hashemi.The December accusations against the vice president came amid a
wider row between the secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, of which he is a
member, and the Shiite-led government.Iraqiya began a boycott of
parliament and the cabinet in December to protest against what it
charged was Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki s centralisation of power, and
it has since called for Maliki to respect a power-sharing deal or
quit.Maliki, a Shiite, has also said his Sunni deputy Saleh al-Mutlak
should be sacked after the latter said the premier was 'worse than
Saddam Hussein.'Iraqiya announced on Sunday that its MPs would return to
parliament, somewhat easing the crisis, though it has not yet decided
to return its ministers to the cabinet. Its MPs returned to parliament
on Tuesday.'The majority of the members of Iraqiya participated in the
session today,' said Iraqiya MP Faiza al-Obeidi.'We conducted the second
reading of the 2012 budget and negotiated on an amnesty law' for Iraqis
who have been involved in violence.The 'return is very significant for
us due to the importance of these two laws and of the national
conference,' Obeidi said, referring to a conference proposed by
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, aimed at resolving Iraq s political
crisis.Iraqiya won the most seats in March 2010 parliamentary elections
but was outmanouevred by Maliki in forming a government. (AFP)
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