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
Maliki is set to unveil his national reconciliation plan to parliament on Sunday. (Reuters)
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.
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