Iraq election: Winning Sunni candidates targeted by Maliki forces

At least four Sunni Muslim candidates who appear to have won parliamentary seats on the winning ticket of secular leader Iyad Allawi have become targets of investigation by security forces reporting to the narrowly defeated Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, according to interviews with relatives, Iraqi security forces, and the US military.

All four candidates ran in the Diyala Province of Iraq, a restive mainly Sunni area north of Baghdad. One candidate who won more than 28,000 votes is being held incommunicado in a Baghdad jail, two other winners are on the run and the whereabouts of the fourth, a woman, are unknown.

Mr. Maliki alluded to the cases in his televised refusal Friday to accept a loss in the March 7 parliamentary elections, saying of unnamed rival candidates: "What would happen if some of them are in prison now on terror accusations and they participated in the elections and might win?"

Maliki's critics say the Shiite prime minister is using state security forces and the courts to remove political rivals – especially prominent Sunnis – in a last-ditch effort to disqualify candidates from Mr. Allawi's Iraqiya coalition, which holds only a two-seat lead ahead of Maliki's State of Law bloc.

The government's action, coupled with appeals by Maliki's bloc for the votes to be thrown out in these cases, appeared to be a long-shot maneuver to strip Allawi of his margin of victory. In the end, Iraq's high court will have to settle this and other disputes and certify the final results, a process that could take another two weeks.

Top Iraqi official names four candidates linked to terrorism

One of the fugitive candidates said security forces had staged two raids on his home this week, including one Saturday morning.

"I'm confused as to how I can make it to parliament to be sworn in when I can't even go home," said Raad Dahlaki, the chairman of the Baquba City Council. McClatchy reached him by telephone at an undisclosed location. "Will I be stripped of my right to fill the seat I won through hard work? Will I be able to keep the promises I made to people, to improve their lives? I have no clue why there are all these attempts to arrest me."

The prime minister's office did not respond to repeated requests for comment. An aide, Sadiq al-Husseini, laughed and called the allegations "silly," but did not make officials available.

A senior Iraqi security official in Diyala confirmed investigations against the four, but did not provide any details of possible evidence against them.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to address the cases publicly, the official identified the four candidates as: Mr. Dahlaki, the Baquba council chairman who won nearly 12,000 votes, according to official results; Najm Abdullah al-Harbi, a Diyala provincial council member with more than 28,000 votes; Mohammed Othman, former mayor of the town of Saadiya with nearly 10,000 votes; and Ghydaa Saeed, a political newcomer who's said to be under scrutiny because she's related to a cabinet member from Saddam Hussein's former regime. She won nearly 6,800 votes.

The security official said arrest warrants have been issued for the first three and that a fourth, for Ms. Saeed, is expected any day. He added that all the cases hinged on accusations related to terrorism.

"These warrants have nothing to do with elections. They were issued even before the elections," the security official said.

Harbi: Set to be released, now incommunicado

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