Iraq Sunni party expels MP who rejoined cabinet

BAGHDAD - The leading Sunni Arab faction in the Iraqi parliament said on Saturday it had expelled an MP after he rejoined the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The Iraqi Islamic Party, headed by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, took the action against Planning Minister Ali Baban after he announced on Thursday that he was returning to Maliki's cabinet.

Baban was among five Sunni Arab ministers and a deputy prime minister who began a boycott of the cabinet on August 1.

"The Iraqi Islamic Party urged Ali Baban to change his decision, but it was useless," the party said in a statement.

"So the party decided unanimously to discharge him and to end relations with him. We now bear no responsibility for any of his actions."

It added that it did not accept people who "are not committed to our decisions totally."

The Iraqi Islamic Party is the largest faction in the National Concord Front, the main Sunni Arab bloc in the 275-member parliament.

The bloc pulled out its ministers after accusing the government of failing to rein in Shiite militias and of the arbitrary arrest and detention of Sunnis.

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