BAGHDAD — Lawyers for Iraq’s fugitive vice president Thursday asked judges in his terror trial to summon the nation’s president as a defense witness.

 

The three-judge panel immediately rejected the request but said the defense can appeal.

Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi, Iraq’s highest-ranking Sunni politician, is accused of running death squads that targeted Shiite officials and pilgrims.

 

Al-Hashemi has denied wrongdoing and has said he is the victim of a political vendetta by Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, a Shiite.

 

Al-Maliki is facing mounting allegations from within his broad-based unity government that he is excluding minority Sunni and Kurdish coalition partners from power.

 

The case against Al-Hashemi has fueled Sunni and Kurdish resentment against Al-Maliki, who critics charge is monopolizing power. A warrant for Al-Hashemi’s arrest was issued the day after the last US troops left Iraq in December.

 

At a session earlier this month, the defense team announced it was quitting the case after the court blocked a request for evidence the lawyers said could exonerate Al-Hashemi.

 

On Thursday, Al-Hashemi’s lawyers sat among the spectators, rather than at the defense table.

 

Even so, they interacted with the judges, including making the request to summon Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and five Sunni lawmakers as defense witnesses. — AP