Iraq seeks Kurd’s arrest on insult charge
KIRKUK, Iraq — A Baghdad court issued an arrest warrant for the vice president of Iraq’s autonomous northern Kurdish region Thursday for saying Iraqi forces had “occupied” the disputed province of Kirkuk this week.
However, the warrant against Kosrat Rasul is unlikely to be executed, because the central government in Baghdad has no enforceable authority in the Kurdish-administered north.
The court accused Rasul of “insulting” Iraq’s armed forces, which is forbidden by Iraqi law.
On Monday, Iraq’s federal forces, supported by Iranian-sponsored militias, rolled into the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, forcing Kurdish militias, known as the peshmerga, to withdraw after brief clashes.
The Kurds took over the city in 2014 when Iraq’s army melted away ahead of the Islamic State’s blitz across northern and western Iraq.
The Islamic State has since seen its hold on Iraq and north Syria crumble in the face of relentless airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition and an array of forces battling it on the ground.
Iran restricts opposition figure to home
ISTANBUL — Iranian security forces prevented former president and opposition figure Mohammad Khatami from leaving his Tehran home late Wednesday, media outlets reported.
Activists called it the latest sign that regime hard-liners were seeking to crack down on the country’s reformist sects, activists said.
Two opposition-linked news sites said security forces had arrived at Khatami’s home in the Iranian capital to block the ex-president from meeting with political allies, a move one outlet referred to as “temporary house arrest.”
Khatami, a popular reformist cleric, served two terms as president, from 1997-2005, but was later banned from public appearances after supporting anti-government protests in 2009. An order from a state prosecutor earlier this month tightened those restrictions, according to one of Khatami’s lawyers, including a three-month ban on receiving political guests.
The government did not publicly confirm the restrictions.
Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran expert at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said Iran’s hard-liners are sending a message to those seeking to change the government.
Pakistan court indicts ex-prime minister
ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani court on Thursday indicted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and his son-in-law on corruption charges stemming from documents leaked from a Panama law firm.
A lawyer for Sharif, who was in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment, entered a plea of innocence. The former premier’s daughter, Maryam Sharif, and her husband, Mohammad Safdar, attended the hearing at the Accountability Court and also pleaded innocent.
Sharif later Thursday told reporters in London that he will go back to Pakistan to attend the next court hearing, scheduled for Oct. 26. In his televised comments, he said he was removed from office by judges on a trivial charge.
The charges stem from a trove of documents — known as the Panama Papers — that investigators say showed the family held unreported assets overseas. The family has denied any wrongdoing.
After leaving the courtroom, Maryam Sharif again denied the allegations as “baseless.” She said her father would return to Pakistan and that they would “face these cases with courage.”
U.S. strike kills 3 militants, Yemen says
SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni tribal leaders said a suspected U.S. drone strike killed three suspected al-Qaida fighters in the country’s southeastern Bayda province.
The leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the men were traveling Thursday in the Soum area when a missile hit their car, engulfing it in flames.
Yemen fell into chaos after its 2011 Arab Spring uprising that deposed longtime autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh, now allied with Shiite rebels from the north who have occupied much of the country and are fighting his successor. A Saudi-led coalition has been battling the rebels and Saleh’s forces since March 2015.
Al-Qaida has taken advantage of the security breakdown to seize territory and expand operations in impoverished Yemen, which sits along strategic oil shipping routes.