Qatar rejected Iraq’s request to hand over Tareq Al Hashemi to Face Terror Charges in Baghdad

Qatar on 3 April 2012 rejected Iraq's request to hand over the nation's fugitive Tareq Al Hashemi to face terror charges in Baghdad. Qatar stated that it would not extradite him since such a move would be contrary to diplomatic protocol. Qatar will not hand him over because there is no court verdict against him and because al-Hashemi is a foreign official with diplomatic immunity.

Iraq had asked Qatar to extradite the top Sunni leader Tareq Al-Hashemi against whom the Shiite Government issued an arrest warrant in December 2011 on charges of running death squads for killing of Government officials and opponents. The row is likely to further strain ties between Shiite-led Iraq and Sunni Gulf Arab states.

Tariq al-Hashimi was general secretary of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) until May 2009. He is Sunni. Along with Adil Abdul Mahdi, he was a Vice President of Iraq in the government formed after the December 2005 elections.