IPFS News Link • Iraq
Iraq Carnage: 107 Killed, 484 Wounded As VP Condemned to Death
• http://original.antiwar.com, Margaret GriffisAlthough some of the attacks occurred earlier than the sentencing announcement, it cannot be ruled out that several of the later attacks were in response to it. Surges in violence have accompanied significant points in the Hashemi trial, and the evening attacks targeted Shi’ite neighborhoods in Baghdad. Hashemi is Sunni.
The fugitive vice president was sentenced to death in what many believe was a rigged court decision. He has denied all allegations and insisted the trial was part of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s intensified campaign to marginalize Sunnis. The case was tried in absentia after Hashemi fled Iraq, first to Kurdistan and later to Turkey. Both governments refused to hand Hashemi over.