| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Shiite Election Candidate Kidnapped |
| 2005-11-18 |
| Baghdad, 18 Nov. (AKI) - An armed militia group has kidnapped a politician running in Iraq's upcoming parliamentary elections on 15 December. The information website Elaph reports that Tawfiq Yasari, a candidate for the 'Sun of Iraq' election list was abducted by a group of armed men wearing police uniforms, who raided his home in Baghdad on Thursday night. He was taken from the Yormuk district of the capital, not far from the heavily protected Green Zone, where various government buildings and embassies are located. Yasari is a former officer from the Iraqi army and was a well-known opponent of Saddam Hussein's regime. In 1991 he led a Shiite uprising against the Baathist regime in the city of Diwaniya, around 180 kilometres to the south of Baghdad. The 'Sun of Iraq' is a coalition of Sunnis and Shiites. In the run-up to the 30 January elections many candidates were forced to remain anonymous, hiding behind their party list, out of fear for their safety. One female candidate who decided to campaign openly, Wijdan al-Khuzai, a 40-year-old mother of five, was abducted, tortured and killed more than a month before the vote. Three male candidates - two of whom belonged to then interim prime minister Iyad Allawi's Shiite election coalition - were killed on 18 January alone. |
| Posted by:Steve |