Interpol issued a Red Notice for the arrest of Iraq's Vice-President in response to a request by the Iraqi government on Tuesday. A Red Notice is the basic international equivalent of an arrest warrant.

“At the request of Iraqi authorities, Interpol has published a Red Notice for Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi on suspicion of guiding and financing terrorist attacks in the country,” Interpol said in a statement.

Iraq’s Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi responded by saying that the charges against him are politically motivated. Hashemi said in a statement, “My defense lawyer will present an appeal to Interpol in the next few days,” he continued by saying, “I won’t submit to pressure and blackmail.”

Interpol’s constitution says the it will only issue notices “if it is satisfied that all the conditions for processing the information have been fulfilled. For example, a notice will not be published if it violates Article 3 of the Constitution, which forbids the Organization from undertaking any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.”

Hashemi, who is in Istanbul, Turkey said that he was not involved in the murder of six judges in Iraq and refuses to stand trial in Iraq.

While on a trip to Rome, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stated at a news conference that he believed that Hashemi would return to Iraq as soon as he completed medical treatment.

It was Shitte Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government that accused Hashemi, who is a Sunni, of running death squads. It was these accusations that culminated in Hashemi being tried in absentia in that country. That trial was delalyed last week when his lawyers requested that parliament set up a special court to hear the case. The trial is set to re-convene on Thursday.

Maliki is being accused of targetting senior Sunni politicians in an attempt to sideline them and consolidate his power. Senior political figures in the country are threatening a vote of no confidence against Maliki in what they are calling autocratic decision making at the expense of Sunni officials.

Prosecutors in the trial say Mr Hashemi and his bodyguards ran a death squad that carried out a campaign of political assassinations and bombings that took the lives of 150 people during the height of Iraq’s insurgency.

Even though the country is ruled by a unity coalition of Sunnis, Shittes and Kurds, Maliki is accused of attempting to consolidate power with his accusations of wrondoing by senior Sunni officials.

Prior to going on a regional tour of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Hashemi hid out in Iraqi Kurdistan, the local government there refused to turn him over to authorities.

Kurdish and Sunni blocs in the country are at an impasse as to how to end this current crisis and who would replace Maliki if his critics manage to strip him of his power.