Twenty-one defendants accused of bombing the U.S. and French Embassies last December were formally arraigned today, as their trial began under extreme security.
To be tried in absentia are four defendants who are at large, the prosecutor general said.
Five people were killed and 86 injured in the rash of bombings on Dec. 12. Besides the U.S. and French embassies, four Kuwaiti targets were bombed.
The prosecution has demanded the death penalty for 19 of the defendants. The others are believed to have played a lesser role in the bombings in and around the capital of this oil-rich Arab nation . . . Of the other defendants, 17 are Iraqis; two, Lebanese, three, Kuwaitis and two are stateless. Most of them said they belonged to Al-Dawa (Islamic Call) Party, an Iraqi movement of Shiite Moslem fanatics who are pro-Iranian, said court sources who asked not to be identified. ~~ http://www.juancole.com/2006/07/congress-expects-islamic-dawa-to.html
Shiite Parties: United Iraqi Alliance, 130 seats.
Leading figures: Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Abbul-Aziz al-Hakim, of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq; Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Kurdish Parties:
Kurdish Coalition, 53 seats.
Leading figures: President Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani.
Islamic Party of Kurdistan: 5.
Sunni Parties:
Iraqi Accordance Front, 44 seats.
Leading figures: Tariq al-Hashimi, Adnan al-Dulaimi.
Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, 11 seats.
Leading figure: Saleh al-Mutlaq.
Secular Parties:
Iraqi National List, 25 seats.
Leading figure: former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
Reconciliation and Liberation Bloc, 3 seats.
Iraqi Nation List (Secular Sunni Arab), one seat.
Other:
Yazidi minority religious sect, one seat.
Al-Rafidian List (Christian), one seat.
Turkomen Iraqi Front (Turkish secular), one seat.
Provided as reference material.