Iraq Shias protest against arrest

A swift US apology failed to stop the protest going ahead

Thousands of Shia Muslims have protested in the Iraqi city of Najaf about the detention of the son of a powerful Shia politician by US forces.

Crowds chanted slogans of support for Ammar al-Hakim, the son of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

He was briefly held on Friday on the Iraq-Iran border when the US military said his convoy behaved suspiciously.

US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad has apologised for the incident.

US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver said Mr al-Hakim's convoy was stopped as it re-entered Iraq near the Mehran border crossing with Iran, 130km (70 miles) east of Baghdad.

Lt Carver said that the vehicles were stopped because they "met specific criteria for further investigation in an area where smuggling activity has taken place in the past".

The US has repeatedly said that Iraq's Shia militias are being armed with weapons smuggled in from Iran.

Lt Carver said Mr Hakim was arrested when people travelling in the convoy "did not co-operate with coalition forces and displayed suspicious activities".

Mr Hakim, a cleric, and his two bodyguards were kept at a US military base for nearly 12 hours, Iraqi officials have said.

"Unfortunate incidents such as this occasionally occur as Iraq endeavours to secure its borders," Lt Carver said.

Treatment

The US said Mr Hakim was treated "with dignity and respect throughout the incident".

In the wake of the incident US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad issued a rapid apology saying that Washington did not mean any disrespect to Mr Hakim or his family.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is one of Iraq's top Shia politicians

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is the leader of the largest party in Iraq's parliament, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

The party was founded in 1982 by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim's brother Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim in Tehran.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim took over the party when Mohammed Bakr was killed in an al-Qaeda car bombing in August 2003.

Ammar al-Hakim heads the Al-Mihrab Martyr's Foundation, in honour of his uncle, and is seen as the deputy leader of the political movement.

Last December, the Hakim residential compound in Baghdad was raided by US forces who arrested two Iranians said to be members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.