Iraq VP Tariq al-Hashemi sentenced to death Published duration 9 September 2012

image caption Tariq al-Hashemi is now in Turkey, where he has held meetings with Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish politicians

Iraq's fugitive vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi has been sentenced to death in absentia after a court found him guilty of running death squads.

The ruling came as at least 92 people were killed and more than 350 injured in more than 20 attacks across Iraq.

Hashemi was the most senior Sunni Muslim in the predominantly Shia Iraqi government until he was charged last December and went on the run.

The charges against him sparked a political crisis in Iraq.

Hashemi declined to comment on the court ruling after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, according to the Associated Press news agency.

The vice-president said only he would soon "tackle this issues in a statement".

Other Sunni politicians have denounced Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - who issued the warrant for Mr Hashemi - as a dictator, accusing him of deliberate provocation that risked plunging the country back into sectarian conflict.

media caption Dozens of people died in at least 11 attacks in Iraq

Correspondents say the fragile coalition government of Sunnis, secularists and Shia has appeared to be in danger of collapse ever since.

Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda have been blamed for much of the recent violence in Iraq.

Sunday saw a fresh wave of killings, including:

at least one car bomb explosion in Baghdad, which killed at least nine people on Sunday evening

earlier, three car bombs in the capital's predominantly Shia districts killed 15 people

a shooting and bombing attack on an army base north of Baghdad, which left 11 soldiers dead

two car bomb explosions in the south-eastern city of Amara outside a Shia shrine, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than 60

a bomb blast in the northern city of Kirkuk, which killed seven police officers

a dawn raid on a military base in Dujail, north of Baghdad, in which 10 soldiers died

a bomb explosion outside the French honorary consulate in Nasiriya, in the south, which left one person dead. The French government condemned the blast

attacks were also reported in Tuz Khurmatu, Baquba, Basra and Samarra.

Sectarian tensions

The Iraqi government issued the warrant for Hashemi's arrest on 19 December 2011, the day after the last US troops left the country.

He fled first to the largely autonomous Kurdish north of the country, and from there to Qatar and on to Turkey.

Prosecutors said Hashemi was involved in 150 killings. During his trial in absentia in Baghdad, some of his former bodyguards said Mr Hashemi had ordered murders.

He says the charges against him are politically motivated and has accused Mr Maliki of fuelling sectarianism.

On Sunday, an Iraqi court found Hashemi and his son-in-law guilty of two murders and sentenced him to death by hanging. The judge dismissed a third charge for lack of evidence.

Although violence has decreased since its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks have escalated again after the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq at the end of last year, amid increasing political and sectarian tensions.

The Iraqi government has been hampered by divisions between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish political groups.

The Iraqi government said July 2012 was the deadliest month in nearly two years, with 325 people killed.

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a Sunni, and many Sunnis believe they are being penalised by Shias, who have grown in influence since the US invasion.