BAGHDAD — Nine of the Iraqi finance minister’s guards are being held on terrorism charges, a judicial spokesman said yesterday, after the minister demanded the premier’s resignation following their arrest. The arrests and Finance Minister Rafa al Essawi’s response threaten to reignite a long-running feud between the Iraqiya bloc, of which he is a member, and Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki.
Higher Judicial Council spokesman Abdelsattar Bayraqdar said that nine of Essawi’s guards were detained under Iraq’s anti-terrorism law, and that all necessary arrest warrants had been obtained. And he told Iraqiya state television that the commander of the guards had confessed to carrying out “terrorist acts,” which he said meant “bombings and assassinations”.
The interior ministry said on its website that its forces carried out the arrests around Essawi’s house, put the number of detained guards at 10, and published what it said were copies of the arrest warrants. — AFP
