Muhsin Abd al-Hamid is the head of the Sunni’s Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP). In 2003, the “Sunni professor at Baghdad University and author of more than 30 books on the interpretation of the Koran” was named by Paul Bremer to the Interim Governing Council.
Monday morning, Juan Cole alerts us, Hamid “was hooded and taken away after US troops broke windows in his home and allegedly mistreated him and his sons.” Hamid’s three sons were also taken away, reports Al-Jazeera, which has the most up-to-date, detailed report.
Islamic Party official Alaa Makki calls the raid “a low point in the history of Americans in Iraq.” Iraq’s president is demanding his release by U.S. troops:
“President Talabani expressed his surprise and unhappiness at the arrest of the leader of the Islamic Party and called for his immediate release,” it said.
“The Presidential Council has not been consulted … and feels that treating a political personality of this level in such an arbitrary way is unacceptable.”
Juan Cole says, “Actually it is not clear under the provisional Iraqi constitution that it is legal for US troops just to go arrest people. The arrest of a major Sunni leader,” Cole continues, “will cerainly have an impact on the guerrilla movement. Journalists are already talking about a new potential civil war among the sects.” More below:
Update [2005-5-30 7:21:10 by susanhu]:
US: Arrest of Sunni leader a mistake. (The U.S. is releasing him.)
“This morning coalition forces detained and interviewed Muhsen Abd al-Hamid. Following the interview it was determined that he was detained by mistake and should be released,” a statement issued by the US military said on Monday.
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PHOTO ABOVE, CAPTION: “Mohsen Abdul Hamid, the head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, speaks at a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq Monday, May 23, 2005. U.S. troops detained Hamid along with his three sons and four guards on May 30, 2005.” photo: Yahoo/China View
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IIP issued a statement that “this irresponsible behavior will only complicate the situation,” reports China View.
The Fallujah Factor: Cole points out that the IIP “initially announced that they would take part in the parliamentary elections, then declared neutrality because of the November, 2004, Fallujah campaign.”
About that declaration, Australia’s The Age reported in November 2004:
“The Iraqi Islamic Party has decided to withdraw from the government in protest against the attack on Falluja that is harming the people,” said Mohsen Abdul Hamid, senior party official and member of Iraq’s provisional National Assembly.
Al-Jazeera provides more details on the raid and detention of Hamid and his three sons:
“They stormed the house, arrested Dr Muhsin and three of our sons, Miqdad, a first Secretary at the Foreign Ministry, and Yasir, Deputy Head of the Sunni Waqf [endowments]. They took their mobile phones and some money from the house,” she said.
“They have scattered all the contents of my house, and took our money, jewellery and our ID cards and passports,” she added.
“They even wanted to arrest me too, but I told them I had leukemia so they left me,” she said.
No reason was given for the arrest, and the US military in Baghdad was not immediately able to confirm the incident.
Makki slammed the arrest as “a low point in the history of Americans in Iraq”.
He said more than 200 members of the party were currently being held without charge in US detention centres in the country.
All the more surprising, Makki added, was that the action came a day after Iraqi government spokesman Laith Kubba had welcomed a statement by the Sunni party against violence threatening the country’s fledgling democracy and social fabric.
The statement, reports Al Jazeera, “had also warned the government against transforming security forces into an instrument of repression under the control of Shia Muslims who now dominate the political scene.”
The title of Juan Cole’s blog entry today is “30 Dead, Dozens Wounded by Guerrillas In Response to Operation Lightning.”
It appears that lightning has struck Mr. Hamid and the Iraqi Islamic Party.