Fugitive Iraqi VP Hashemi will return to Iraq: aide



RIYADH- Fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi will return to Iraq, a close aide said on Thursday, denying a claim by a Saudi official that he might remain in the kingdom until his political foe, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, leaves office.
"He will return very soon to Kurdistan," said a member of his delegation in reference to the autonomous Iraq region where Hashemi has been sheltering since he was accused late last year of running a death squad.



The spokesman added that for Hashemi to stay abroad is "the wish of his enemies," in a clear reference to Maliki.
Only hours earlier, Hashemi said in an interview with Al-Jazeera television that, although Maliki wants him "out of Iraq ... I will return."
He also accused Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, of waging a systematic campaign against Sunni Arabs in Iraq.
For his part, Hashemi spokesman Medhat Abu Abdallah told AFP: "We deny this information categorically. The vice president will leave Saudi on Saturday to continue his regional tour."
The Saudi official had said Hashemi "will remain in Saudi Arabia for the time being," adding that he might stay until Maliki is pushed out of office "by democratic means."
He also lashed out at Maliki, describing him as "an extension of Iran in the region."
Hashemi arrived in the Sunni heavyweight kingdom on Wednesday from next-door Qatar, after a controversial four-day visit that sparked criticism from Iraq's Shiite-led government and demands that Doha hand him over.
Qatar refused those demands, saying they violated "diplomatic norms."
In Riyadh, Hashemi met the kingdom's foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Hashemi fled to Iraq's northern Kurdistan region in December to avoid formal charges and arrest.
In his Al-Jazeera interview, he said the accusations against him "have a sectarian dimension" that are part of what he said was a systematic campaign against Sunni Arabs.
He said he is the "fifth Sunni figure to be targeted" by the government, and that "more than 90 percent of the detainees in Iraq are Sunnis."
Hashemi also alleged that the government is providing "military assistance" to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, arguing that Maliki's support for the Syria's leadership, which he has previously accused of funding terrorism, is motivated by sectarian considerations.
"There is information about Iraqi militias fighting alongside the Syrian regime," Hashemi told Al-Jazeera. There are also "unconfirmed reports that Iraq's airspace is being used to help (Assad's) regime," he added, hinting at Iranian involvement.
Maliki has rejected attempts by Sunni-led Gulf Arab states to arm rebels fighting to overthrow Assad, arguing that such a move would trigger an even bigger crisis in the region.
The Syrian issue has split the Arab world. Hardline states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have advocated arming Syrian rebels and called for Assad's departure. Others, including Iraq, want to see a political solution.
Syria's minority rulers are Alawites -- an offshoot of Shiite Islam -- who are trying to cling to power by brutally suppressing anti-regime protests led by the country's majority Sunnis.
In Iraq, the Shiite-dominated government has ruled over the minority Sunnis since the 2003 US-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein.
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Friday, April 6th 2012
AFP
           


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