Arrests raise Sunni claims of government sectarian bias
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s largest Sunni party accused government security forces of sectarian bias Tuesday after soldiers arrested a Sunni university president and a Sunni provincial council member northeast of Baghdad.
The raids in Diyala province follow an Iraqi crackdown there against U. S.-backed Sunni Arab volunteers who turned against al-Qaida and joined the fight against the terror movement.
The moves occur at a time when the U. S. sees progress in tamping down the sectarian hatreds that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war two years ago.
Iraq has a Shiite-led national government.
Before dawn Tuesday, Iraqi troops backed by U. S. helicopters swooped down on the provincial government complex in Baqouba, Diyala’s capital about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
The troops stormed the office of the provincial governor, Raad Rashid al-Tamimi, triggering a gunfight that killed his secretary and wounded four of his guards, police said.
The Sunni head of the provincial council’s security committee, Hussein al-Zubaidi, was arrested, police said.
Later, troops raided the home of the president of Diyala University, Nazar al-Khafaji, handcuffed him, placed a hood over his head and led him away, his nephew Ismail Ibrahim Sabi said.
Troops also seized three computers and several books, said Sabi, who was in his uncle’s house at the time and works as his driver.
Al-Tamimi is a Shiite, but Sunni politicians believed both the raid on his office and the arrest of the university president were part of a crackdown against Sunni Arabs, the largest community in the province.
The Iraqi Islamic Party, the country’s largest Sunni faction, said in a statement that the raids were a sign “sectarianism remains the sole motive of the security forces,” which are mostly Shiite.
The statement denounced “these irresponsible acts” and said the party would not remain silent in the face of “human-rights violations and the breach of freedom that are taking in this province.” The 41-member provincial council demanded an investigation and said it was suspending its activities in the meantime. Council chief Ibrahim Bajilan said the raids were a “barbaric act” by troops “who did not respect the law.” However, a senior Iraqi army officer who took part in the raid said troops carried arrest warrants for the university president and the head of the security committee.
Al-Kafaji, the university president, was believed behind the assassination of professors, and al-Zubaidi also was suspected of a role in the killings, the officer said.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
He provided no evidence but said both would appear before a judge and that witnesses were prepared to testify against them.
Establishing security in Diyala, an agricultural province of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, is critical to maintaining control of Baghdad.
The province extends from the Iranian border to the outskirts of the capital, and extremist groups have used Diyala as a springboard for car bombings and kidnappings in Baghdad.
Also Tuesday, a U. S. soldier was killed in a rocket attack in Amarah, a southern Shiite city where U. S. and Iraqi forces have been trying to suppress Shiite militias.
Meanwhile, Poland’s prime minister says his country will offer asylum or a $ 40, 000 payment to any Iraqi working for its military or police in Iraq.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his government on Tuesday approved the plan. Poland has decided to withdraw its troops from Iraq in October. Information for this article was contributed by Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sinan Salaheddin and Sameer N. Yacoub of The Associated Press.
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