* Electoral chief arrest stirs political tensions
* Baghdad, Kurdistan at odds over oil, autonomy
BAGHDAD, April 15 (Reuters) – Iraq’s electoral commission
chief and another member were released on bail on Sunday after
spending three days in jail on corruption charges, in a case
that has stirred political tensions in the country’s fragile
power-sharing government.
Faraj al-Haidari, head of Iraq’s Independent High Electoral
Commission (IHEC), and Karim al-Tamimi were arrested on Thursday
on charges they had given illicit bonuses to some IHEC
employees, charges they have denied.
The arrests came as Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s
critics worry he is seeking to tighten control over independent
government bodies.
“An investigative judge ordered the release of both Faraj
al-Haidari and Karim al-Tamimi on bail,” said Abdul-Sattar
al-Birqdar, a Supreme Judicial Council spokesman.
Haidari, a Kurd, confirmed to Reuters by telephone that he
and Tamimi had been released on a bail of $12,900.
Maliki won a court ruling in January 2011 that put IHEC and
other independent bodies like the central bank under more
cabinet supervision, alarming critics who saw it as an attempt
by the premier to consolidate more power.
A political crisis erupted in December when Maliki’s
Shi’ite-led government sought an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice
President Tareq al-Hashemi on charges he ran death squads and
the ouster of Sunni Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq.
Hashemi himself has denied any wrongdoing.
Maliki has said the charges against Hashemi were brought by
the legal system and his supporters say he is following
democratic norms, not abusing them. But many Iraqi Sunnis fear
Maliki was trying to sideline them from government.
The crisis has been complicated by renewed tensions this
month between Baghdad’s central government and the autonomous
Kurdistan Regional Government over who controls oil and disputed
territories and over how much rights regions have to autonomy.
(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Additional reporting by Raheem
Salman; Editing by Serena Chaudhry and Maria Golovnina)
