Tariq al-Hashemi: Sunni Arabs are being imprisoned on "pretense of being linked to Al Qaeda"

[ProSense]

The Sunni in Iraq's Shiite leadership

By Sam Dagher
Wed Nov 14

Baghdad - Tariq al-Hashemi says he cringes when he's described as Iraq's Sunni vice president.

Mr. Hashemi, one of two vice presidents – the other, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, is Shiite – says he is trying to reach out to all Iraqis. In September, he met for the first time with Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric, the reclusive Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, at his home in the holy Shiite city of Najaf. He also drafted an Iraqi National Compact – his 25-point plan to lessen sectarian and ethnic strife.

At the same time, he remains utterly at odds with the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Indeed, the standoff between the two men underscores the fact that Iraq's political leaders have not capitalized on improved security to advance what US officials here have labeled "top-down reconciliation."

<...>

Hashemi, who lost three of his siblings to targeted assassinations last year, gets very emotional when he speaks about the plight of prisoners, particularly those held in Iraqi facilities.

He accuses the Maliki government of paying people it calls "secret informants" to fabricate evidence and reports used to round up hundreds of Sunni Arabs throughout Iraq this year on the pretense of being linked to Al Qaeda and the insurgency.

more