Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi has been sentenced to death in absentia for running death squads targeting the country’s Shia majority.
The fugitive vice president was the most senior Sunni Muslim in the Iraqi government, dominated by Shias.
He went on the run after he was charged last December, when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a warrant for al-Hasjemi’s arrest, sparking a major political crisis and accusations by Sunni politicians that he was provoking sectarian conflict.
Tensions have been running high since December, with a sharp increase in sectarian violence in recent months.
Hashemi is now in Turkey, where he has been holding talks with Iraqi Kurdish and Turkish politicians.
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