clari.world.mideast.iraq

BAGHDAD, March 4 (UPI) -- An Iraqi court dropped the cases
against two high-profile Iraqi health ministers accused of
conspiring with the kidnapping and killing of Sunnis.
Former Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili and the head
of the ministerial security force Brig. Gen. Hamid Hamza Alwan Abbas
al-Shamari stood accused of using Baghdad hospitals for death zones
for Iraqi Sunnis at the backing of supporters of influential Shiite
cleric Moqtada Sadr, The Washington Post said Tuesday. Both men are
Shiites.
The trial experience delays and alleged witness
intimidation. Several witnesses gave conflicting testimony.
"This shows that the judicial system in Iraq is horribly
broken," one anonymous . official told the Post.
Both men said they were unaware that the Iraqi Health
Ministry was being used as a front for such operations and their
attorneys claim the Iraqi government and . officials are using
the case to counter Sadr's rising influence.
The decision by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to
allow the case to go to trial was seen as a positive development in
bridging the sectarian divide between the Shiite-led government and
Sunnis.
"The very fact that the charges were heard and investigated
does show modest progress toward the rule of law," a spokeswoman for
the . Embassy in Baghdad said to the Post.