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| Iraq |
| Iraq cleric urges Baath ban as controversy rages |
| 2010-01-16 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] A senior Shiite Muslim cleric on Friday defended a panel's decision to bar almost 500 candidates from Iraq's next election because of ties to Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, likening the party to the Nazis. As a controversy threatening to reopen the wounds of Iraq's sectarian divide deepened, Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI) lawmaker Mohammad al-Haidari called for the ban to be enforced. "The Baath party is worse than the Nazi party," Haidari said in a speech during Friday prayers. "Like the Nazis, only without their warmth and humanity." "If Baathists return to power, God forbid, their revenge will be even more ferocious." The Justice and Accountability Commission, an independent body that aims in part to ensure the Baath party does not return to public life, said last week that 15 parties should be prevented from standing in the Mar. 7 election. The list included prominent Sunni leader Saleh al-Mutlaq, generating widespread protests from once dominant Sunnis that Iraq's majority Shiites were trying to sideline them. Tens of thousands of Iraqis died in the sectarian warfare between Shiites and Sunnis that was unleashed by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The conflict has subsided, but violent attacks by suspected Sunni Islamists remain common. The parliamentary election in March is a key test of Iraq's growing stability as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by end-2011 and the government signs oilfield development contracts that could turn the war-shattered country into a top oil producer. The list of barred candidates grew to 499 on Thursday -- out of 6,500 in total -- when it was upheld by Iraq's independent electoral commission. It would grow even longer after ministries submitted their own lists of candidates who should be barred for other reasons, such as for forging university degrees or because of criminal records, said election commission member Hamdiya al-Husseini. The Baath party is outlawed in the constitution. But many Sunnis see the effort to ban candidates with Baathist links as a conspiracy by the Shiite-led government to disenfranchise Sunnis, a view that could feed the lingering insurgency. |
| Posted by:Fred |