Baghdad demands that Interpol arrest Iraqi fugitives

The Algerian weekly newspaper El-Zawraa said Thursday that Iraq intends to present a claim to the Interpol concerning 54 Iraqi fugitives involved in stealing public money, as specialized Iraqi authorities finished setting up the files and delivering them to Baghdad.

The newspaper reported through a source in the Iraqi Ministry of Justice that some of these criminals identified themselves as opposition abroad to avoid the possibility of their extradition to the Iraqi authorities.

President Saddam Hussein has ordered the specialized departments to take procedures to follow up on those who are legally wanted and return them to be punished by the specialized courts.

The Iraqi opposition abroad comprises a number of previous high-ranking Iraqi officials, civilians and military members.