Al-Zamili was accused and put on trial for orchestrating the killings of hundreds of Sunnis from 2005 to early 2007 while heading the government’s health ministry. Support from Shiite warlord Moktada al-Sadr has made al-Zamili powerful, and he’s likely to succeed in an election where many Sunnis have been barred from running for office because they once were members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.

 

One American official told The New York Times that the situation “sends the worst possible message to loyal Iraqis.”

 

Al-Zamili says the charges brought against him were politically motivated. His trial went nowhere after witnesses were intimidated into refusing to testify.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Murky Candidacy Stokes Iraq’s Sectarian Fears (by Marc Santora and Michael Gordon, New York Times)

Trial of 2 Shiite Ex-Officials Tests Iraq’s Judicial System (by Alissa Rubin, New York Times)