Anbar Salvation Council leader vows to surrender

Anbar police command (110 kilometers) west of Baghdad, announced an arrest warrant has been issued by the Iraqi judiciary against the president of the Anbar Salvation Council, Sheikh Hamid al-Hayes in accordance with Article IV of the anti-terrorism law, confirming that the security forces will implement the memorandum legally as Hayes announced that he is ready to give himself up as he respects the Iraqi law, saying that the lawsuit is malicious. Anbar police Chief Major General Hadi Rezayij declared in a press statement that the Anbar Criminal Court issued a judicial order regarding a lawsuit by the people of Ramadi and Anbar against Hamid al-Hayes, accusing him of committing crimes within the governorate. Rezayij added that security forces will take over the legal implementation of the arrest warrant based on the judicial orders issued by the court. For his part, the leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, Hamid al-Hayes confirmed his willingness to surrender himself in order to implement the arrest warrant issued against him out of respect for the Iraqi law. He was described by the person who stands behind the arrest warrant issued by Anbar police chief as a"terrorist." Al-Hayes said to Arabstoday: "The arrest warrant being issued by the Iraqi judiciary has all my respect and acceptance and must be implemented because we have laid the foundations of law in Anbar before there were security forces. The gates of my house are open to the security forces to implement the arrest warrant and if the police do not come I'm going to surrender myself voluntarily." Al-Hayes explained: "The issuance of the arrest warrant is an honour for me, the fact that the one who stands behind it is the one of the terrorists, a police chief of Anbar and a former director of the department of anti-crime at the time of the former regime and is included in the law of accountability and justice. The lawsuit is malicious and by the police because I have revealed financial and administrative corruption within the police department.” Al-Hayes, head of the Anbar Salvation Council in an earlier press statement has condemned the increased number of al Qaeda attacks on a daily basis, while blaming the governorate police chief for the security failure, and calling on the Ministry of Interior to put an end to the deterioration of security in the governorate. Al-Hayes blamed the governorate police and especially the police chief for the "failure and deterioration" of the security conditions in the governorate and pointed out that the information that reaches the Interior Ministry and the Office of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces about the status of Anbar security is "misleading and not realistic at all."