SALON

Wednesday, Apr 4, 2012 4:30 PM UTC

Iraq’s fugitive vice president in Saudi Arabia

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Iraq's fugitive vice president in Saudi ArabiaFILE - In this Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 file photo, Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi speaks during an interview with the Associated Press near Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. Fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi traveled to Qatar on Sunday, April 1, 2012 on what the Gulf nation's state news agency called an "official visit." The trip could intensify tensions between Baghdad's Shiite-led government and the Sunni monarchies of the Gulf.(AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)(Credit: AP)

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A Saudi Foreign Ministry official says Iraq’s fugitive vice president has arrived in the kingdom after a four-day official visit to neighboring Qatar.

Iraq has issued an arrest warrant for Tariq al-Hashemi on terror charges and called on Qatar to extradite him so he can stand trial in Baghdad. Qatar refused the request.

The Saudi official says al-Hashemi arrived in the country on Wednesday and is meeting with the kingdom’s Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the press.

Al-Hashemi is the top Sunni official in Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government. He has been taken refuge in the self-ruled Kurdish region in northern Iraq since the December arrest warrant.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — State media in Qatar say that Iraq’s fugitive vice president has left the Gulf country after a four-day official visit.

The Qatar News Agency says Tariq al-Hashemi, who is the top Sunni official in Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government, left the country on Wednesday. The report does not say where al-Hashemi is headed or if he plans to return to Iraq.

Iraq has issued a warrant for al-Hashemi’s arrest on terror charges and called on Qatar to extradite the suspect to stand trial in Baghdad. Qatar refused the request.

More Abdullah Al-shihri.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments are not enabled for this story.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations