Thursday, September 07, 2006
Parliament speaker's nephew kidnapped
Security, Politics
Iraqi parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani's nephew was kidnapped on Wednesday night in northern Baghdad, a police source said. The abduction occurred at about 10:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) when the car of Ahmad, al-Mashhadani's nephew, was intercepted by unidentified gunmen in a district north of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.
COMMENT: The abduction could be of relevance because if it is not purely criminal for financial gain, then it could be to gain political leverage. al-Mashhadani is a Sunni and has a high profile. He has been out-spoken on several sensitive issues such as warning that politicians have just months to sort out their differences or the country will plunge into civil war. He has also dug his heels in with the main Shia Alliance bloc who said on Thursday they had completed a draft proposal to create autonomous regions. They tried to force a vote on the matter until al-Mashhadani cut them off, saying he had not received the proposal. The Sunnis are against federalism because they will lose out on oil revenue. COMMENT ENDS.
