Iraq’s Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is charged with running a death squad, has said he will not go to Baghdad to stand trial and has raised the prospect of fleeing Iraq.
Mr Hashemi, holed up at an official guesthouse of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in the country's autonomous Kurdish region, acknowledged his guards may have carried out attacks, but he has steadfastly denied any involvement.
The warrant against Mr Hashemi, issued nearly a week ago, has been the focus of a political row between Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, which is a part of his national unity government and of which Mr Hashemi is a member.
Asked if he would return to Baghdad to face trial, Mr Hashemi told AFP: "Of course not." The 69-year-old attributed his refusal to travel to the capital to poor security and politicisation of the justice system.
He said most of his guards had been arrested and had their weapons confiscated, adding that "there is no security for the vice president. How can I come back to Baghdad if I cannot secure myself?”
"The Iraqi judicial council is under the control and the influence of the central government, and this is a big problem," Mr Hashemi added in a one-hour interview in Qalachwalan, on the outskirts of Kurdistan's second city Sulaimaniyah, during which he was surrounded by unarmed guards.
"That is why I asked to move the case to Kurdistan. ... Justice here will not be politicised."
Since US troops completed their withdrawal a week ago, Iraq has been mired in political crisis, with Mr Hashemi wanted and Mr Maliki calling for the sacking of his Sunni deputy after the latter called him a dictator "worse than Saddam Hussein”.
Iraqiya, the bloc of Hashemi and deputy premier Saleh al-Mutlak, has boycotted parliament and the cabinet in protest at Maliki's alleged centralisation of power.
US Vice-President Joe Biden has made a flurry of calls to Iraqi leaders this week, urging them to mend their fences.
In calls to Mr Maliki today and Kurdish leader Massud Barzani yesterday, Mr Biden "exchanged views... on the current political climate in Iraq and reiterated our support for ongoing efforts to convene a dialogue among Iraqi political leaders," the White House said in a statement.
Coupled with a spate of attacks on Thursday in Baghdad which killed 60 people, the political row has heightened sectarian tensions in Iraq.
