By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
BAGHDAD, Iraq — On Tuesday, an Iraqi court postponed the trial of Iraq’s Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi until August 14.
Al-Hashemi, a high-ranking Sunni politician, faces around 150 separate charges. He is accused of operating death squads along with his staff and bodyguards that targeted Shia officials and pilgrims. The vice president has denied the wrongdoing and insists the charges filed by the Shia-led government are politically motivated and that he is the victim of a political vendetta by Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Malik.
The appeals court earlier this week refused the defense’s request to call President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, to testify at the trial. Seeking to have Talabani serve as a character witness with five Sunni legislators and two other government officials, al-Hashemi first filed the request in May.
With the denial of the request to call the witnesses by the lower court hearing the case, al-Hashemi’s defense sought to have Iraq’s federal appeals court overturn the ruling. The higher court denied the request and instead announced the trial would resume on August 14. While the defense sought to ask the witnesses if they had any information about al-Hashemi’s role in terror attacks, the three-judge panel rejected the request, believing it would add nothing to the case.
Muayad Obeid al-Ezzi, head of al-Hashemi’s defense team, spoke shortly after the denial. “The federal appeals court rejected all of the appeals we filed, and returned the whole case to the [Central Criminal Court of Iraq],” he said.
Additionally, during Tuesday’s session, the court heard from witnesses supporting previous testimony given on May 15, when the trial began. Five police officers testified that they found pistol silencers during a raid on the homes of al-Hashemi and Ahmed Qahtan, his son-in-law and office manager. The claims, in addition to testimony from bodyguards and other officials who say they were offered money, or were forced, into carrying out attacks on al-Hashemi’s orders, are contested by the defense.
A woman and her son also testified on Tuesday. As neighbors of Qahtan, they told the court they saw policemen taking silencers from his house. Furthermore, testifying this week, one of the more than seventy of al-Hashemi’s guards currently held in custody described to the court how he drove other guards to plant roadside bombs under the orders of the vice president.
Al-Hashemi and several of his bodyguards are being tried in absentia. In December, after the initial charges were filed, he fled to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region before beginning a tour through Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. He was last known to be in Turkey where the Turkish government has stated it will not extradite him to Iraq.
For further information, please see:
Al Monitor – Iraqi Government Wants Chevron To Scuttle Contract With Kurds – 25 July 2012
ABC News – Nine Killed in Attacks After Deadly Iraq Day – 24 July 2012
Al Jazeera – Iraqi Vice President’s Trial Postponed – 24 July 2012
France 24 – Iraq Court Says President Cannot Testify in VP Case – 24 July 2012
Fox News – Iraq President’s Testimony Rejected in Trial of Vice President – 24 July 2012
