Death sentence No 3 for fugitive Vice-President

Sunni Vice-President, Tariq al- Hashemi was sentenced to death on charges that he ordered his bodyguards to attack Shia pilgrims (AP)

A court has sentenced the fugitive Sunni Vice-President, Tariq al-Hashemi, to death on charges that he ordered his bodyguards to attack Shia pilgrims. Today's death sentence was the third handed to Mr Hashemi, since last spring, when judicial authorities started to try him on terrorism charges.

All verdicts were delivered in absentia since Mr Hashemi is in exile in Turkey. He fled Iraq in December 2011, when the Shia led-government levelled accusations against him.

The court also sentenced in absentia his son-in-law to death on the same charges: planning to attack pilgrims with a car bomb last December in south-eastern Baghdad. Security forces reportedly foiled the attack and seized the car.

AP