Shiite-Led Iraqi Ministry Seeks Arrest of Top Sunni Cleric Harith al-Dhari

Harith al-Dhari

BAGHDAD, Nov. 17 -- The Iraqi government on Thursday ordered the arrest of the country's most influential Sunni cleric for allegedly inciting violence and supporting terrorism, a move by the Shiite-led administration that could inflame the sectarian tensions already disfiguring the capital and other parts of Iraq.

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani declared on state television late Thursday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Harith al-Dhari, leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars, one of the most outspoken defenders of Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs after the U.S.-led invasion.

"We have proof that he is involved in terrorism," said Brig. Abdul Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, without elaborating. "Wherever he is -- inside the country or outside the country -- the Iraqi courts will bring him to justice."

[The association responded Friday with a call for Sunni politicians to quit Iraq's government, the Associated Press reported. Association spokesman Abdul-Salam al-Kubaisi said the arrest warrant was political cover for "the acts of the government's security agencies that kill dozens of Iraqis every day."

Al-Kubaisi called for "political groups to withdraw from parliament and the government, which has proven that it is not a national government."]

In recent weeks, Dhari had angered Shiite leaders by declaring on al-Arabiya television that the trial of ousted president Saddam Hussein was illegitimate, mocking efforts at national reconciliation and expressing support for al-Qaeda. He also said Shiite militias belonging to political parties had infiltrated "the majority of the security apparatuses at the Interior Ministry."

Dhari, a vocal critic of the Shiite-led government and its American backers, travels frequently outside Iraq and could not be reached for comment Thursday. He was believed to be in neighboring Jordan.

"The warrant that was issued is evidence that this government has lost its balance and that it is announcing its bankruptcy," Mohamad Bashar al-Faidy, a spokesman for the Association of Muslim Scholars, which represents Iraq's Sunni clergy, told al-Jazeera television Thursday night. He added that Dhari was not surprised by the warrant because he has been targeted before by the government.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

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