Interpol, the international police organization, today issued a "red notice," for Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is wanted on terrorism charges in Iraq. The notice is basically the equivalent of being on Interpol’s most wanted list.
The notice was posted on their website, where Interpol also hailed the Iraqi government for working with them. The fugitive vice president is currently in Turkey, but member countries are not bound to honoring the notice. It seems unlikely that he will be handed over for extradition back to Iraq where he is to be tried in absentia.
Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he supports Hashemi and believes the vice president will return to Kurdistan after he concludes some medical tests. Qatar has earlier refused similar requests for extradition.
Hashemi expressed his disappointment with Interpol and wondered why the organization did not investigate the substance of the request from the Iraqi government first. The vice president insists he is innocent and these trumped-up charges are the result of political intrigue. He also demanded that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki cease manipulating the judiciary so that he, Hashemi, can have a fair trial.
Meanwhile, at least five Iraqis were killed and 10 more were wounded.
In Baghdad, two people were killed and eight more were wounded in a car bomb blast on Maghreb Street. A bomb in Amiriya wounded a civilian. A ministry official was not hurt when a bomb blew up his vehicle; a second bomb near his home was defused.
In Mosul, a policeman was killed in an I.E.D. explosion at a checkpoint. Gunmen attacked a checkpoint; a civilian bystander was wounded in the clashes, but no word on the others.
A man was shot dead in Falluja by a gunman on a motorcycle. A car bomb was defused.
A former policeman was beaten and strangled to death in Hammam al-Alil.
