FILE – In this Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 file photo, Iraq’s Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi speaks during an interview with The Associated Press near Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. An Iraqi court was set to begin trying the country’s fugitive Sunni vice president Thursday on accusations of terrorism that have touched off a political crisis and could deepen the nation’s sectarian divide. Tariq al-Hashemi, the nation’s highest-ranking Sunni politician, was not expected to be in court to face charges that he ran death squads that targeted government officials, security forces and Shiite pilgrims. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)