Paris (AsiaNews) - Abdelkarim Hashem is Shiite. He was a member of the Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq and is now Iraq's new ambassador to Russia. Back from Baghdad he talked to AsiaNews by phone before taking up his new posting in Moscow. This is what he had to say about Enzo Baldoni's death:
"I want to express all my personal sorrow and offer my condolences to the Italian people. The murder of the journalist Enzo Baldoni is a barbarous act that does not represent what Iraqis stand for.
"Sadly, this is what is left of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime: diehard supporters who continue to carry out awful deeds in the name of Islam. They are orphans of the old system and want to mire the new Iraq in chaos in order to profit from it.
"I am certain that most Iraqis are against such things, especially when they involve Italians, who have come to help us. This act is even more despicable since it was against the life of Baldoni, a man who volunteered to help Red Cross convoys go to Najaf. He was a man of peace who just wanted to help Iraqis."
