Court drops coup charges against Iraqis

Evidence found to be lacking, official declares

BAGHDAD - Iraqi authorities yesterday freed most of the approximately two dozen security officers detained this week for allegedly aiding insurgents and remnants of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party, two Interior Ministry officials said.

The officials said at least 22 of the officers had been released and the rest should be let go by this morning. The detainees were freed after Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani returned to Baghdad from abroad and challenged the charges, said the officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Bolani said a judge dismissed the case against all the officers after finding insufficient evidence to charge them.

The case provided a window into the intense political differences in Iraq even among fellow Shi'ite Muslims. While some Shi'ite lawmakers and security commanders said they thought the accused men might have helped facilitate terrorist attacks, they rejected reports that the group had been hatching a coup attempt - a grave worry among the ruling Shi'ite coalition.

The arrests also raised fears among some lawmakers that the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was using authoritarian tactics reminiscent of Hussein's regime to reinforce its power and thwart rivals.

Shortly after his arrival home, Bolani convened a news conference yesterday and denounced the arrests. "This story . . . is a fabricated one," Bolani said of allegations against the men. "It is not based on any facts, security or intelligence."

The harsh words by Bolani also underscored the strains within the country's ruling Shi'ite elite, who rarely air their dirty laundry in public. "This is for political reasons," he said. "You know the country is approaching provincial elections, so there is a relation to the political process."

Bolani has his own movement, the Iraqi Constitutional Party, which is running against Maliki's Dawa party and its coalition partner, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, in provincial contests in the Shi'ite-dominated south. Bolani said the roots of the case had been a police investigation into an alleged plot to attack the Interior Ministry. However, Maliki ordered a governmental committee to take over the investigation and it sought the arrest warrants, said Ahmed abu Ragheef, the ministry's director of internal affairs.

Elsewhere in the Iraqi capital yesterday, a senior leader in Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's populist movement was arrested at home in a joint US-Iraqi military raid, the group announced. Fareed Fadhili, the detainee, is the head of the Sadrists' new social and religious organization, Mumahidoon, which is supposed to absorb most of fighters from a militia loyal to the cleric.

Also yesterday, a judge in Baghdad announced an investigation into the beating and bruising of an Iraqi journalist's face moments after he hurled his shoes at President Bush, and said investigators destroyed the shoes in their search for explosives.

The statement by Judge Dhia al-Kinani was the first official word that Muntadhar al-Zeidi was hurt after his outburst at a news conference by Bush and Maliki. The judge said Zeidi had a bruised face and eyes.

The judge said the Zeidi investigation would be completed and sent to the criminal court tomorrow, after which a court date would be set within seven to 10 days. The prime minister can recommend to Iraq's president that a pardon be granted, but the judge said such a pardon can be issued only after a conviction.

Zeidi has been in custody since last Sunday's attack.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.