Sot al-Iraq Website, 17 Oct 2013 – Under an exclusive invitation made to Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-hashemi, the European Parliament held an official session with the presence of numerous political dignitaries with the Vice President delivering a speech.
Mr. Tareq al-Hashemi, showed the utmost precision and transparency on the situation in Iraq and numerous other cases, with human rights, the judiciary and its negative impacts on conditions in Iraq topping the list. He also provided an in-depth report on the problems that thousands of innocent Iraqis are facing resulting from false reports that led to their arrests, and their cases remaining in limbo for years. These inmates have been tortured and threatened to deliver forged confessions on TV.
Mr. al-Hashemi said most of those arrested are innocent while the real criminals are roaming free with security organs being fully aware.
Mr. al-Hashemi was warmly welcomed and received wide attention because he is the first Iraqi senior official who is revealing for the first time the main aggressions conducted by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and his security organs against the Iraqi people’s rights. Other Iraqi officials travelling to European Union countries tend to groom the image of the prime minister and deliver an untrue picture while international reports prove the exact opposite.
Following the official session Mr. al-Hashemi participated in a press conference in the European Parliament and presented documents and video clips showing the involvement of Maliki and his office in torture and flagrant human rights violations, and the fact that Tareq al-Hashemi was the first person to enter the prisons in a historic visit to a secret facility in the city of Rassafe. This severely angered Maliki to the point that he forged a court case against al-Hashemi with the goal of setting him aside from the political spectrum.
In this press conference Tareq al-Hashemi said he is ready to immediately return to Iraq and appear before a fair court if a true chance is provided to prove his innocence, and that of his bodyguards who have been tortured.