Feud grows as Iraqi vice-president denies ‘death squads’ charge as

The Iraqi vice-president accused of running death squads has hit back at the prime minister in a sectarian feud that risks wrecking the country’s fragile balance of power, days after United States troops finally withdrew.

Dismissing the charges against him yesterday as fabricated and part of machinations by Nuri al-Maliki, vice-president Tareq al-Hashemi evoked wider regional tensions by appealing to the Arab League, a body dominated by his fellow Sunni Muslims, and denouncing “foreign agendas” in Iraq – code for Shiite Iran.

As Mr Hashemi declared his willingness to face judges in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region – where he travelled after an arrest warrant was issued for him in Baghdad – one of his allies was lambasting Mr Maliki, leader of the majority Shiites, for acting like Saddam Hussein and risking renewed sectarian strife.

Holding a news conference in the Iraqi Kurdish capital, Arbil, a day after supposed bodyguards to Mr Hashemi confessed on state television to a campaign of shootings and bombings, the vice-president said: “I swear, Hashemi did not commit any sin against Iraqi blood and will not commit any, either today or tomorrow.”

“The whole issue is Maliki’s fault,” he added.

“I am demanding the case be transferred to Kurdistan … and that representatives of the Arab League or Arab Lawyers Union have access, to ensure the integrity of the investigation.

“On that basis, I am ready to be judged.”

Iyad Allawi, a former prime minister who leads Mr Hashemi’s largely Sunni-supported Iraqiya political bloc, said: “This is terrifying, to bring fabricated confessions. It reminds me personally of what Saddam Hussein used to do, where he would accuse his political opponents of being terrorists.”

Mr Hashemi is one of two vice-presidents, the other being from the Shiite majority, while the president is an ethnic Kurd.

Iraqiya, though avowedly non-sectarian, benefited largely from Sunni votes to secure first place in a parliamentary election last year. But it ended up joining an uneasy coalition under Mr Maliki.

Iraqiya recently began to boycott parliament, complaining that it had been marginalised in a country where the Shiites, oppressed for decades under Saddam, were now dominant.

Authorities said on Monday they issued an arrest warrant for Mr Hashemi on terrorism charges on the basis of alleged confessions of men claiming to be members of his security detail.

Kurdistan has its own government and security forces, making Mr Hashemi’s immediate arrest there unlikely.

Many Sunnis feel shunted aside by the rise of Shiites. More broadly, Iraq sits on a Sunni-Shiite faultline that is generating conflict throughout the Middle East, notably between non-Arab Iran and Sunni-ruled Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia.