Fred Harteis News Articles - The eldest son of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, perhaps the most powerful political leader in Iraq and the head of the dominant Shiite political bloc, was detained by American forces for several hours on Friday after traveling across the border from Iran into Iraq.
Angry advisors to Mr. Hakim denounced the detention as an insult and said American forces had beaten several guards after stopping the convoy on Friday. The son, Amar Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, is himself a senior official in Mr. Hakim’s political movement and has often taken a lead role in building support for his father’s political efforts.
An American military official declined to comment on the beating allegations, but said in an interview Friday night that the son had been detained because he had an expired passport and because he was traveling with people who had a large number of guns.
In an interview after his release at the provincial governor’s office in Kut, Amar al-Hakim showed a passport that had an expiration date of Sept. 17, 2007. Mr. Hakim said the Americans detained him a few miles from the Iranian border shortly before noon on Friday.
"They arrested me and my guards in an unsuitable way, and they bound my hands and blindfolded me," he said. "They took our phones, bags, money, documents and the guards’ weapons, and sent us to an American base."
"They claim the reason for the arrest was because my passport had expired," he said, "but as you can see my passport expires on the 17th of September."
The detention comes at a very delicate moment in the relationship between American occupation officials and Mr. Hakim’s party, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in
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Source: Nytimes.com
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