The fugitive Iraqi politician who was sentenced to death Sunday for murder decried the verdict and sentence as "the final phase of the theatrical campaign against me using a kangaroo court." Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni, had earlier been convicted of murdering a lawyer and security official. He was also accused by Iraq's Shiite-led government of a role in more than 100 attacks on his political rivals amid heavy sectarian violence in Iraq in the last decade. At a news conference in the Turkish capital on Monday, al-Hashemi — who has been in exile amid the charges — reaffirmed his and his aides' innocence of the charges and called the process "a shambles." Al-Hashemi and his political allies have slammed the accusations as politically motivated, an effort by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to shore up his own power. Iraq has been locked in a sectarian political struggle, and has faced continuing sectarian attacks, since U.S. forces withdrew at the end of last year.
