Iraq Press Roundup

U.S. forces follow Mehdi Army

U.S. forces carried out raids to arrest militants affiliated with the Mehdi Army militia in operations throughout the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, al-Iraq lil-Kul reported Friday.

Anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr ordered his forces to stand down in August, and several members of the unit are said to have abandoned their militancy. U.S. forces, however, have been conducting raids on people allegedly linked to militant elements within the group, the newspaper said.

Abu Abbas al-Saadi, a Mehdi Army commander, expressed concerns over these raids, saying they were prompted by false information given to American forces by informants.

Mehdi Army members are accused of perpetuating sectarian violence and contributing to the rise of the internally displaced. The militia's leadership denies the allegations, pointing instead to infiltrators within its ranks.

Saleh al-Obeidi, spokesman for the Sadrist Movement, Sadr's political party, said more than 17,000 members of the forces were tortured into false confessions while in detention.

The report said American forces are patrolling the streets of Baghdad with pictures of wanted Mehdi Army members and hanging wanted posters throughout the area.

Meanwhile, 28 members of the Mehdi Army were sentenced to death in a court in the southern city of Nasiriyah on charges of killing 16 people, including 11 police officers, in 2008.

Hakim looks for Islamic unity

Influential Shiite cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim met with the secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to discuss unity within the Islamic sects, al-Sabaah reported Friday.

Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, held a meeting with OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu to discuss ways the organization could improve operations in Iraq and strengthen bilateral relations.

The Shiite cleric also encouraged the organization to work to establish solidarity among the many Islamic sects as a way to strengthen the Muslim community.

Ihsanoglu later met with the revered Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in the holy city of Najaf, saying he spoke with the leading Shiite cleric on the important role Iraq had to play in the organization.

Embattled Daini smuggled to secret location

Mohamed al-Daini, a lawmaker implicated in a 2007 bombing of the Iraqi Parliament building, has disappeared after his plane was diverted from Jordan, Sot al-Iraq reported Friday.

Iraqi authorities ordered a plane carrying Daini and several others to return to Baghdad International Airport minutes after it departed for Jordan. Daini has since disappeared, and Iraqi authorities are asking citizens to report any information on his whereabouts.

Four of Daini's bodyguards and two other lawmakers said to have accompanied him on the trip to Jordan were arrested on allegations they were trying to smuggle the lawmaker out of the country.

Iraqi authorities barred him from leaving while the matter was under investigation.

Daini's nephew, Riyadh Ibrahim al-Daini, testified that his uncle helped a suicide bomber into the protected Green Zone in 2007.

Sources to the news service said Daini escaped with the help of members of the Iraqi Accordance Front, whose members say they would cooperate if allegations the party was involved in violent activities were dropped.

Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, said they would continue their hunt for Daini, saying that if he were innocent, there would be no reason for an escape attempt.

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(Edited by Daniel Graeber)