Iraq Fugitive VP Arrives in Saudi from Qatar

Fugitive Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, accused of running a death squad, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after a four-day visit to neighboring Qatar, a top Saudi official told Agence France Presse.

"The vice president has arrived in the kingdom and he has met with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He did not give further details.

Hashemi, who had been taking refuge in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region since December, arrived in Riyadh from Doha.

Doha's welcoming Hashemi sparked a wave of criticism by Iraq's Shiite leadership, which demanded that Qatar extradite the fugitive leader and denounced the Gulf state's actions as "unacceptable."

Qatar has rejected Baghdad's demand to hand over Hashemi saying it violates "diplomatic norms."

Hashemi denies the allegations against him and says they are politically motivated.

The row over Hashemi was followed by escalating tensions between several Gulf states and Iraq over how to end the bloodshed in Syria.

On Tuesday, Saudi and Qatari newspapers lashed out at Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki over his implicit criticism of Saudi Arabia and Qatar for their calls to arm Syrian rebels.

"Gulf (states) should boycott Maliki and his government," wrote Tariq al-Homayed, the editor of Asharq al-Awsat, calling for the "punishment of all who stand with the tyrant of Damascus, first and foremost Maliki's government."

The campaign against Maliki came after he rejected "any arming (of Syrian rebels) and the process to overthrow the Assad regime," arguing that the call to arm the rebels "will leave a greater crisis in the region."

The Syrian crisis has raised sectarian tensions, as its minority rulers are Alawites -- an offshoot of Shiite Islam -- who are trying to cling to power by brutally suppressing an uprising led by the country's majority Sunnis.

In Iraq, a Shiite-dominated government came to power after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion ousted Saddam, whose Sunni regime marginalized the country's Shiites for decades.