Semi-official state TV Al Iraqi said the Interior Ministry asked for help from the regional administration in the North in handing over Vice-president Tarıq Al Hashimi and 14 others, for whom there are arrest warrants, TRT English reported.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki told a local TV channel that the judges who wanted the arrest of Al Hashimi threatened to arrest him if Hashimi was not captured and handed over to justice.
Iraqi High Court of Appeals Council had ruled the arrest of Vice-president Al Hashimi and 14 others, referring to the testaments of former bodyguards that they had committed acts of violence at the orders of vice-president Al Hashimi.