An Interview with Iraq MP Mohammed al-Dayni After His Arrest and Escape

In June, I had the opportunity to interview Mohammed al-Dayni, an elected member of the Council of Representatives to the Iraqi Parliament and a collaborator of mine in an effort to negotiate a cease fire between Iraqi insurgents and the Coalition forces, who is now charged by his government of traitorous crimes.

Back in late February, in an exclusive to the Huffington Post, I reported in a blog that Mohammad al-Dayni, an elected member of the Council of Representatives to the Iraqi Parliament, was charged by the Iraqi government for masterminding the April 2007 bombing of the cafeteria in the Parliament building. Al-Dayni was on an Iraqi airliner heading to Jordan to see his family. His plane was forced to return. Maliki forces removed him; then released him. He disappeared.

Nineteen days later, on March 25, I posted another blog: "Mohammed is still missing."

On June 1, I heard good news from Noor, Mohammed's wife, that he was safe in a secure location outside Iraq. Would I travel there and speak with him? I did.

Mohammed denies all charges and believes he is a target because has exposed human rights violations within the country as well as financial and managerial corruption by the Maliki administration. He told me he was being sent to Iran because of his relentless insistence that Iranian operatives have infiltrated the Maliki government.

It is a bizarre tale. First there was a media announcement of al-Dayni's arrest and then a revocation of that announcement. At the same time, al-Dayni was being transported by a special force related to al-Maliki to various military camps or stations in and out of Baghdad. At the fourth station, near the Iran-Iraq border he was placed in a car bound for Iran, but with the help of others in the car and nearby tribal peoples, he, in his words, "was allowed to run away from the bad situation."

On June 9, I sat down with al-Dayni, read him the Maliki government's charges and asked for his side of the story. In the interview that you can read, al-Dayni recounts the arrests and torture of his family members and bodyguards by Iraqi officials. He tells of a flagrant disregard for the Iraqi Constitution and law by the Maliki government. And, he notes that four people currently in the custody of the anti-terrorism division inside the Green Zone have already confessed to the bombing of the Parliament, the principle charge against him. He talks about his history as a human rights activist while commenting on the irony that he is being accused as a violator of human rights.

Although long, this is a riveting story that answers many questions and raises many more. For me, I am relieved that Mohammed is alive.

You can read the interview in its entirety. After that, there are a few significant items worth noting. I''ve also included a chronological display of press reports leading up to and related to Mohammed's current case.

Written in collaboration with Jennifer Hicks