Warrant for Iraq VP Hashemi's Arrest and Coerced Confessions

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued an arrest warrant for Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni and prominent official from the opposition Iraqiyya List, on December 19, 2011. The arrest warrant cited as evidence confessions forced through the torture of several of Hashemi's bodyguards, as well as individuals said by Maliki to work for the vice president. Below are translations of the arrest warrant for Hashemi as well as excerpts from the bodyguards' coerced confessions. These statements were released by state-run media, undermining the reliability of these claims.

 In the name of God the most merciful, the most compassionate

Republic of Iraq                                                                     

Supreme Judiciary Council      

Central Court of Inquiry                     

CASE NUMBER\(17351)

Search and Arrest Warrant

Warrant Number\                        Year\

To the judicial authority members and to all police personnel, you are permitted to arrest:

1.    FIRST, MIDDLE AND LAST NAME:  Tariq al-Hashemi
2.    HOME ADDRESS:      Baghdad- Green Zone             
3.    JOB TITLE:   Vice President                 
4.    TYPE OF CRIME/ LAW PROVISIONS:   Article IV\Counter-Terrorism    
5.    DESCRIPTIONS:        

Must be brought to appear in front of our court immediately due to the charge filed against him by: The federal police intelligence office

Judge:  SIGNED
Date: Dec. 19th 2011
SEAL OF COURT

Download the original arrest warrant.

The following are translated excerpts of the coerced confessions, which were released by the Dhi-Qar news agency, a media network affiliated with Maliki’s State of Law list, on December 19, 2011.

Confessions:

• Lieutenant Colonel Faisal Issmaiel Hussain al-Zabiey/ Born 1960/ Baghdad- Abu Ghrayb
• Colonel Issa Sayer Mouth’in al-Issawi/ Born 1967/ Anbar-Fallujah
• First Lieutenant Mohammed Ghanni Olaiwei al-Issawi/ Born 1983/ Anbar-Fallujah.

Charge:

According to status number 1152 dated November 1, 2010, the above names have been provided by an official order issued from the supreme judiciary council, based on Article IV, to the Central Criminal Court.

• Belonging to terrorist organization.
• Kidnapping detainees and murdering them.
• Faking official papers for the purpose of swapping detainees and murdering them.
• Mass murder and mass graves.

Testimony of: First Lieutenant Mohammed Ghanni Olaiwei al-Issawi.

Minutes numbered 67/75

• We committed kidnappings and murder. The direct officer of Colonel Issa Sayer was Sa’ad Awaad Rashed, who occupied the position of Fallujah city mayor for the period from 2006 to sometime in 2009. Sa’ad was a senior member in the Islamic Party, and his direct boss was the director of Islamic party organizations in Anbar province, also known as Abu-Mujahid, his real name is Khalid Al-Alwani. Abu Mujahid was in touch with Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and Rafie al-Issawi when the former held the position of vice president at that time.

• Tariq al-Hashemi had constantly held meetings with Abu Mujahid and the Fallujah mayor, as well as Colonel Issa Sayer al-Issawi. Directions/instructions were issued by Tariq al-Hashemi himself.  The orders issued by Tariq al-Hashemi to us were to commit murder and kidnap and to arrange malicious accusations to those who are opponents to the policies of the Islamic party in the province.

• At the end of 2006 the Islamic party formed an organization called Hamas of Iraq, and it would work as the military wing of the Islamic party. Hamas of Iraq was led by Abu-Mujahid (Khalid al-Alwani) in Fallujah. A majority of Islamic party youth have joined Hamas of Iraq. Colonel Issa Sayer has employed all the human and material resources of the Fallujah police department for the service of this movement. We began to work as a movement that serves the interests of the Islamic Party in Fallujah. Everyone who objected to the Islamic Party policies was a target to eliminate. Another group that belongs to the same movement was formed in A’meriyat-al-Fallujah neighborhood. This particular group was led by Dr. Abd Al-Sattar El-waass al-Issawi, who is the director of Fallujah’s New-Hospital. This group contained more than 1000 members; they imposed their power over the entire area of A’meriyat-al-Fallujah. The senior leaders of this particular movement, Hamas of Iraq- A’meriyat-al-Fallujah, were the sons of Dr. Abd al-Sattar, a person nicknamed Abu Aws, who is a cleric and a teacher, as well as Abu Zaid, who is(Abu Aws’s brother and works as a teacher in A’meriyat-al-Fallujah.

Minutes numbered 68/77

• Hamas of Iraq members wear civilian clothing when performing tasks given to them, they ride civilian vehicles, and the Islamic party gave us orders to spread the fear among the people in Fallujah, so no one would ever attempt to clash with the Islamic Party’s interests. Armed groups formed by the Islamic party were not meant to fight al-Qaeda as the public been told; their real purpose was to support the Islamic Party politically in Fallujah and to perform a hit-list.
• Late 2006 to be more specific, one day I was at Fallujah police department. Colonel Issa Sayer ordered Nuri Seyah also known as Hamza Abu Ali, Othman, Ali and me to visit Major Ibrahim al-Mohammedi and Captain Jammal, who work for the Major Crimes office, at their work place which is the Counter-Insurgency Bureau, and so we did, and as ordered, we received from them five detainees. As far as I remember one of them was Jabbar Jar Allah al-Issawi, who lived in Fallujah near the Tourism City, as well as Mohammed, who I cannot recall his last name, as well as the other three detainees. Colonel Issa Sayer has ordered us to murder those five detainees; we received a Fatwa [an Islamic religious ruling, a scholarly opinion on a matter of Islamic law] to eliminate those five detainees from the private Mufti [the high-ranked cleric how is authorized to issue Fatwa] of the Islamic Party in Falluja who is Abu Mujahid himself.
• After that, Nuri, Othman, Ali Hashim and I used a police pick-up truck to transport the five detainees to an open area on the tourism city (Habbaniya) high-way, we ordered the detainees to lie down and we shot them.

Minutes numbered 69/79

• And thus I practice my work. After that I headed to the main gate of the Fallujah police department. Nuri Seyah came to me and informed me that we have a “mission to do.” When I approached the main gate I saw Othman and Ali Hashim waiting for me. Five minutes later Nuri Seyah arrived, and he drove a police pick-up truck that belongs to the same department. He drove it all the way from the Crimes Bureau, which is located within the same complex. I immediately noticed three detainees were kept in the loading area of the truck. I recognized one of the detainees; his last name was al-Jighayfi [this last name indicates that this person’s origin is from Jighayfi town in Fallujah]. Ali Hashim sat in the front passenger seat next to Nuri Seyah, who drove us to the Industrial Neighborhood of Fallujah. On our way, Nuri Seyah told us that those three detainees are opponents to the Islamic Party, and we are all ordered to eliminate them. “Colonial Issa Sayer has given us the orders to kill them,” he said. We arrived at the Industrial Neighborhood-Fallujah, and we went to an abandoned junk garage located at the far end of the Industrial Neighborhood near the Martyrs Neighborhood. Nuri Seyah pulled over and asked us to get the detainees out of the vehicle, and so we did. The detainees were blindfolded and handcuffed. We all shot them together using our personal guns. I killed al-Jighayfi myself; I shot him five times in all over his body. Nuri, Ali Hashim and Othman shot the rest of the three detainees. Othman had an AK rifle; all three of us had Glock pistols [official Iraqi police side-arm]. We left the bodies there and we took off.