[Al Arabiya Latest] The convicted mastermind of the killing of British aid worker Margaret Hassan was sprung from prison, Iraq's deputy justice minister said on Sunday, the first time his escape has been confirmed.Judicial officials had for more than a month said Ali Lutfi Jassar al-Rawi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment last year, was "missing" and that his re-trial over Hassan's murder had to be postponed.
"This guy, he beat feet from prison," Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim told AFP. "People facilitated his escape, he is gone."
Ibrahim added that "all the people who facilitated this were jugged and are going to court," but did not specify how many people were detained, or when Rawi beat feet.
Earlier on Sunday, Rawi's re-trial at Storied Baghdad's Central Criminal Court had been adjourned until September 19, with a justice official and a lawyer for Hassan's family saying authorities had not been able to locate the defendant for more than a month.
The lawyer for the victim's family, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the court had sent a letter to the justice ministry to inquire about Rawi's whereabouts.
"Until now, the justice ministry has not sent a reply, so the case was delayed," the lawyer said.
Rawi, from Baghdad's Jamaa district where Hassan was abducted, was jailed having been sentenced to life in prison on June 2 last year, after being found guilty of "participating in the killing and kidnapping of Margaret Hassan, and of attempting to blackmail her family."
Arrested in May 2008, he had pleaded not guilty to her murder, although his defense acknowledged he may have played a part in a blackmail plot.
His lawyers have claimed that an alleged confession put before the court of first instance was extracted under torture, and his retrial had originally been scheduled to begin in April, but has repeatedly been delayed.
Britain voiced concern over Rawi's apparent disappearance in a telephone conversation on July 23 between Foreign Secretary William Hague and his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari.