Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's former minister of culture, a Sunni Arab, has been sentenced to death in absentia for involvement in murdering two sons of another Iraqi politician, a court source said on Saturday.

    "The Central Criminal Court in Karkh (western part of Baghdad) handed down a death sentence in absentia against the former minister of culture, Asaad Kamal al-Hashimi, after he was found guilty of murdering two sons of Mathal al-Alusi, the leader of the Umma Party," in 2005, Abdul Sattar al-Byraqdar, spokesman of the court told reporters.

    Hashimi, also a lawmaker in the Iraqi Accordance Front, the major Sunni bloc in the Iraqi parliament, was tried in absentia because his where about has been unknown since he fled in June last year, Byraqdar said.

    "The death verdict against Hashimi could be appealed," he added.

    The ex-culture minister has professorship in Islamic sciences and is a nephew of Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi. He took over his post as minister of culture in Maliki's Shiite government in 2006.

    Abdul-Kareem al-Samarrai, a prominent figure in the Accordance bloc, saw political motives in the Hashimi's conviction and said it was unfair.

    "We know that many arrest warrants and even court verdicts carry political motives," Samarrai said, referring to the arrest of sons, relatives and guards of the key Sunni leader Adnan al-Dulaimi earlier.

    The Accordance Front is the major Sunni political bloc with 44 seats in the Iraqi 275-seat parliament.