Brother's arrest embarrasses Iraq parliament speaker

[ECH1969]

One of Iraq's most senior Sunni Arab politicians was lying low on Friday after his brother was arrested on suspicion of running an insurgent cell -- an accusation a third brother said was false.

As parliamentary speaker, Hajem al-Hassani is one of the highest ranking figures from the minority that was dominant under Saddam Hussein but complains now of being marginalised. Hassani was not answering calls and aides said he was out of the country on Friday, the day after local government officials in the northern city of Kirkuk said his brother Hatem al-Hassani had been detained by Iraqi police.

"Iraqi police arrested Hatem al-Hassani ... because he is the emir of a terrorist group," said Rizgar Ali, head of the city council in Kirkuk, which has seen violent confrontation among Sunni Arabs and ethnic Kurdish and Turkmen populations.

"He is emir of a group named Mohammed al-Fatih Battalions," Ali said, adding that police had found rocket-propelled grenades, rifles and other weapons in Hatem's possession.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR153969.htm

[orpupilofnature57]

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