Iraq govt orders arrest of top Sunni cleric

Baghdad, Nov 17: The Iraqi government has issued an arrest warrant for the country's most prominent Sunni cleric, Harith al-Dari, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told Iraqiya state television today.

In a move that could inflame sectarian passions, Bolani said the head of the Muslim Clerics Association was accused of ''supporting terrorism''.

Shi'ite majority leaders have complained this month that Dari had appeared to justify violence by al Qaeda in televised comments in which he complained Iraq's once dominant Sunnis were being treated unfairly in the US-sponsored political process.

Dari has been out of the country, aides have said recently, and it was not clear if he was now in Iraq. He was not immediately available for comment on the announcement of the warrant, made in a newsflash after 11 pm 0130 hrs IST.

Reuters