Shi'ite death squads acquitted
04/03/2008 12:18  - (SA)  

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Baghdad - An Iraqi court has acquitted two top Shi'ite officials, including a former minister, on charges of orchestrating death squads that kidnapped and killed Sunni Arabs, a US official said on Tuesday.

A three-judge panel found Hakim al-Zamili, a former deputy health minister, and Brigadier General Hamid al-Shammari, who headed the ministry's security forces, not guilty of kidnapping, murder and corruption charges.

"A three-judge panel cited a lack of direct evidence as the ground for its decision to acquit of all charges," said US embassy spokesperson Philip Reeker.

The two were charged with five counts of murder and another five separate counts of kidnapping.

It was the first time two high-ranking Shi'ite officials had been charged over a wave of sectarian killings that exploded across Iraq after the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine two years ago.

- AFP

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