Iraq's former culture minister, believed to be in hiding since last year, has been sentenced to death by hanging for involvement in the killing of another politician's two sons, a court spokesman said on Friday. A Baghdad court found former minister Asaad al-Hashemi responsible in absentia for the 2005 deaths of politician Mithal al-Alusi's two sons, said Abdul Satar Birqadr, a spokesman for Iraq's High Judicial Council. "We issued a subpoena in the official newspaper, but he didn't attend the court proceedings. No one representing him did either," he was quoted as saying by Reuters. Hashemi was a member of Iraq's Accordance Front, and became part of Iraq's government in 2006. He is believed to have fled Iraq or gone into hiding after the bloc pulled out of the government in a row over power sharing in 2007.
