IRAQ: Iraq governmetnt orders arrest of top Sunni cleric on suspicion of terrorism

Iraq's Shi'ite-led government ordered the arrest of the country's most prominent Sunni cleric on Thursday (November 16) on suspicion of terrorism, a move that could further raise sectarian tension amid a rash of kidnappings and killings. A warrant under anti-terrorism laws was issued for Harith al-Dari, head of the Muslim Clerics Association and an outspoken defender of the once dominant Sunni minority's interests, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told state television. He said he would seek foreign help to arrest Dari, who is in Jordan, a Sunni-ruled neighbour unlikely to hand him over. "This is the government's policy against anyone who tries to foment division among Iraq's sects. The security services will pursue them," Bolani, a Shi'ite, said in a late-night interview. He said it was the fruit of probes into militant groups. But government leaders were also incensed this week by comments Dari made on television that they said defended al Qaeda violence. Dari dismissed the move as a "silly act" by a "bankrupt" government that would "bring down upon it the anger and curses of the Iraqi people". He told Reuters: "We see them doing such things to distract the Iraqi people from their crimes." Many Sunnis, and increasingly anxious U.S. officials, say Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is failing to curb death squad violence by militias loyal to his fellow Shi'ites -- a charge compounded by a mass kidnap from a government ministry this week about which officials are still at odds on the fate of hostages. There was no immediate comment from the United States. While frustrated by Dari's contempt for its occupation, it has seen his group as a potential partner in steering the disaffected minority, dominant under Saddam Hussein, away from insurgency. Jordan, which has long rejected Iraqi arrest warrants for Saddam's daughter, is highly unlikely to extradite Dari. His organisation, formed after the U.S. invasion of 2003, groups many of Iraq's Sunni clerical scholars. Though often controversial, Dari has cultivated influential relations abroad. He was received last month in Mecca by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, one of several Sunni-ruled Arab states concerned about the rising influence of Shi'ites and Iran. Iraq's ethnic Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, who is a Sunni Muslim, said this week Dari promoted "sectarian sedition" with the support of Arab countries, which he did not name. The move to arrest him came on a day on which dozens of apparently Shi'ite bus passengers were feared kidnapped at fake security checkpoints in Sunni west Baghdad and government officials argued over whether civil servants seized by suspected Shi'ite militiamen on Tuesday had been tortured and killed. Six missing minibuses were mostly taking Shi'ites across mainly Sunni west Baghdad when gunmen, some in uniform, pulled them over for bogus security checks, police sources said. Fifteen people were grabbed from a city centre cafe after dark, police said. Nine were gunned down at a bakery, some of the at least 50 reported deaths which underline how little control government and U.S. forces have over the capital.

ITN Source | November 17, 2006

Tags:. .fate. .anger. .amid. .squad. .qaeda