Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi again claimed that his guards have been tortured while in detention on trumped-up terrorism charges. This time he said that torture, including rape, was conducted under the supervision of Judge Saad al-Lami. According to Hashemi, the torture was used to extricate false confessions from his staffers in order to support the phony terrorism charges Hashemi is facing. So far, three guards have also died while in detention.
Hashemi faces about 150 terrorism charges, but he says that the courts in Baghdad are manipulated by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He wants his case tried in a neutral courtroom. In recent months, Iraqiya MP Haidar al-Mullah agreed and said that Lami was "influenced by Maliki. Independent MP Sabah al-Saadi also accused the judiciary of not being completely independent. Hashemi had previously named Lami as one of the judges involved with his case.
Separately, Iraq relocated 416 members, mostly women, from the Mujahedeen al-Khalq camp in Diyala to a new home in Baghdad. The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom warned that the refugees were being abused during the move, which is unsurprising considering how the group was treated during their stay at Camp Ashraf. The abuses violate the terms of a U.N. agreement.
Meanwhile, at least eight Iraqis were killed and 27 more were wounded.
A bomb blast at a home in Baquba killed two people and wounded four more family members. Separately, gunmen shot dead a civilian. A councilman’s home was blown-up yesterday.
In Baghdad, two people were killed and nine more were wounded when a bomb planted on a minibus in the Kadhimiya area exploded.
Two policemen were killed and two civilians were wounded during a blast in Qayara.
A bomb in Balad killed one policeman and wounded three civilians.
A blast wounded five people, including three civilians in Madaen.
At least two people were wounded during a bombing in Iskandariya.
An I.E.D. in Haswa wounded one civilian.
In Ramadi, a bomb planted in a car wounded a policeman.
