Thursday, November 16, 2006

This is even better than the Saddam verdict!

Hot and fresh from al-Iraqiya TV...

Finally! The interior minister Jawad al-Bolani just announced that an arrest warrant has just been issued against Harith al-Dhari, head of the association of Muslim scholars.

If you're not familiar with the name, al-Dhari and his organization are the only party that totally rejected the political process, never denounced Saddam's regime, explicitly praised al-Qaeda and is believed to be responsible for sponsoring a great deal of the activity of terror groups and insurgents loyal to the Ba'ath regime.

Al-Bolani said the decision was made according to the 'national safety law' and anti-terrorism legislations and described the arrest warrant as a message to all other warlords and men who incite sectarian violence.

Actually the minister's words were an indirect threat to Muqtada al-Sadr, or more like a direct one because he said, and I'm paraphrasing, "there are two neighboring countries that are causing trouble in Iraq and anyone who cooperates with these countries will not be safe from prosecution"

Al-Bolani acknowledged that al-Dhari is currently outside Iraq but reassured that the government has the tools to reach him and have him arrested.


Update: "Not an arrest warrant, but an interrogation warrant"

Says Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman of the government.

This means they are not ready yet to press charges against al-Dhari and at the moment all they can do through this type warrant is demand he appears before an 'investigation officer' to answer questions.
However, and as far as I know, the procedures here are that if the subject person refuses to show up after three notifications, an arrest warrant might be issued for him.

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