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The arrest sparked angry protests in Tikrit.
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TIKRIT, Iraq — The Association of Muslim
Scholars, the influential Sunni religious authority, and Iraqi Islamic
party, and Iraqi Islamic party, the country's largest Sunni political
group, condemned on Saturday, June 24, the American several-hour
detention of Iraq's grand mufti Jamal al-Din Abdul Karim al-Dabban.
"[He] represents an Islamic and national
symbol and these violations could cause the security situation to
deteriorate," warned Sheikh Yahya Ibrahim al-Atwani, a senior AMS
official in Tikrit, reported Al-Jazeera.
Sheikh Dabban and his three sons were arrested by
American forces at about 5 a.m. in the city of Tikrit, 175 km north of
Baghdad.
The Iraqi Islamic party, the country's largest
Sunni political group, also condemned the arrest.
The US army released the Sunni religious leader and
his two sons.
It apologized, saying the raid on the family's home
was based on bad intelligence, an official at the joint US-Iraqi
coordination center in Tikrit told Reuters.
Tikrit, about 130km north of the Iraqi capital
Baghdad, is the hometown of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Protests
Tikrit Gov. Hamad Humoud al-Qaisi said the release
came after several hours of protests.
Hundreds of people had responded to calls broadcast
over mosque loudspeakers to gather in front of the governor's office
to protest the detention.
Angry demonstrators chanted anti-US slogans.
Local government offices in the Salahaddin province
were closed in protest of the arrest.
"Most of the provincial government
institutions, including the provisional council, have suspended work
to protest the arrest," Abdullah Hussein, the deputy governor of
Salahaddin, told Reuters.
"Employees will not return to their offices
until American forces release him," he added.
The US military said it was investigating the
incident.
Reconciliation
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Maliki is set to unveil his national reconciliation plan to parliament on Sunday. (Reuters)
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Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is
set to unveil a national reconciliation plan on Sunday, June 25,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The plan, first mentioned by Maliki on June 6, is
inspired by South Africa's post-apartheid experience.
It is meant to heal rifts between the Iraqi sects
that have been soaring since the 2003 invasion-turned-occupation of
Iraq.
An aide to the Iraqi premier told AFP that
"all is on track for the prime minister to announce the
reconciliation program to parliament on Sunday."
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who announced his
backing for Maliki's plan, said amnesty would be given to those who
had carried arms against the government provided they rejoined the
political mainstream.
"National reconciliation will be open to
everyone and this will be explicitly stated by the prime minister when
he presents it," he added.
Since taking office in April last year, Kurdish
Talabani has repeatedly called for an amnesty for armed group in the
country.
But his calls have previously gone unheeded because
of opposition from the US military and Shiite hardliners who dominate
parliament.
Militias
Mahmud Othman, a Kurdish MP, said the crux of the
reconciliation debate over the past few weeks has focused on the Sunni
demand for dismantling armed militias.
Iraqi Sunnis accuse pro-government Shiite militias
of targeting their scholars and imams.
They demanded dismantle of Shiite militias — that
are well integrated into security forces — to help achieve
reconciliation in the war-torn country.
Othman said Sunnis want all those expelled from the
army when it was dissolved by US civil administrator Paul Bremer after
the invasion to be reinstalled.
He stressed that the biggest point of contention
for Shiites was attacks that have hit their community including the
bombing of a revered shrine in February.
The bombing triggered a set of tit-for-tat reprisal
attacks that claimed the lives of 450 civilians, mostly Sunnis.
Ever since, gun sales have been booming in the
country with more Iraqis buying, carrying and stockpiling weapons.
