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Arab League Concerned Over Targeting Iraqi Sunnis
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“It
is the Badr Brigades which is responsible for these killings. I
take responsibility for what I am saying,” Al-Dhari said.
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CAIRO,
May 19, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A day after
Iraq’s highest Sunni religious authority accused a Shiite militia of
targeting Sunni scholars, the Arab League Thursday, May 19, vocalized
deep concerns and exhorted Iraqis to stand united against those sowing
the seeds of sectarian strife.
Secretary
General Amr Moussa expressed “his extreme concern over dangerous
developments in Iraq following the murder of ulemas (religious
scholars) and imams (prayer leaders) in mosques,” his spokesman said
in a statement, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He
also urged “all Iraqi parties to show restraint and act responsibly
in the face of those who try to sow the seeds of discord between
Iraq's communities”.
The
Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) Wednesday repeated its
accusations against security forces, saying the forces “formed
mostly by militias of certain parties taking part in the government”
were responsible for killing 14 Sunnis, including three imams, in
western Baghdad recently.
It
added that soldiers and interior ministry commandos “arrested imams
and the guardians of some mosques, tortured and killed them, then got
rid of their bodies in a garbage dump in the Shaab district” west of
the capital.
More
than 48 bodies were found slain and mutilated across Iraq Sunday and
Monday, fifteen of them uncovered in a Baghdad’s predominantly Sunni
neighborhood after they were shot in the head.
Badr
Militia
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Friends
and relatives pray for a Sunni scholar found slain in Baghdad.
(Reuters)
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Speaking
at a press conference Wednesday, AMS Secretary General, Sheikh Hareth
Al-Dhari, was more outspoken and fingered the military arm of the
Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of Iraq’s current
two dominating Shiite political parties, of abducting and
assassinating Sunni scholars.
“It
is the Badr Brigades which is responsible for these killings. I take
responsibility for what I am saying,” he said emphatically.
The
Badr Brigades replaced the officially disbanded militia of the SCIRI, a
main player in the United Iraqi Alliance, which won the lion’s share
of seats in the new 275-member parliament.
The
Badr Brigades spent many years in exile in Iran during Saddam's rule.
They
returned to Iraq after Saddam was toppled in 2003 and changed their
name to the Badr Organization. Although they call themselves a
political group, many Iraqis believe they are still a militia.
Dhari
said Sunnis would not keep silent over the killings.
“We
are heading towards a catastrophe, only God knows when it will end,
this is a warning from us,” he said, appealing to Iran to help stop
the killing.
Chairman
of the Sunni Waqfs Adnan Al-Delimi called, during the same news
conference, for three days of closure in mosques after the Friday prayer to demonstrate
outrage at the killings.
Al-Delimi
on April 26 called for holding a general convention bringing together
Iraqis representing the country’s religious and ethnic rainbow to
nip any sectarian strife in the bud.
A
senior Badr official, Hadi Al-Amiri, denied the accusations of
targeting Sunni scholars, according to Reuters.
“I
consider these comments from Dhari to be irresponsible and only serve
to pour fuel on the flames. It does not benefit the stability of
Iraq’s security in any way,” he said.
“We
Iraqis, Sunnis and Shiite, should all stand against terrorism and
against anyone who wants to draw us into a sectarian battle.”
The
accusations were also denied by Iraqi interior minister, a Shiite, and
defense minister, a Sunni.
Incumbent
Iraqi Premier Ibrahim Jaafari, a leading figure of the UIA, said the
murders were being investigated.
Hassan
Nuaimi, a senior member of the AMS, was found dead in Baghdad Tuesday,
a day after the group accused the Shiite-led government of state
terrorism.
Hundreds
of angry Sunnis attended Nuaimi’s funeral Wednesday and condemned
the Iraqi government.
“The
interior minister is the biggest terrorist,” read one banner.
In
statements to IslamOnline.net Monday, May 17, AMS spokesman
Mothana Harith Al-Dari accused the dominant-Shiite newly-formed
security forces of pursuing a policy of “state
terror” against Sunni Arabs.
“The
mass killings and the crackdown and detention campaigns in
north-eastern Baghdad over the past two days by members of the Iraqi
police or by an Interior Ministry special force, known as the ‘Wolf
Brigade’, are part of a state terror policy”.
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