Turkish Prime Minister Rajab Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara will not send Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi back to Iraq, where he has been sentenced to death in absentia.

Turkish Prime Minister Rajab Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara will not send Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi back to Iraq, where he has been sentenced to death in absentia.

Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Erdogan said Turkey will host Hashemi "as long as he wants".

Hashemi, who has been in Turkey since April, was found guilty of running death squads by a court on Sunday.

Erdogan said it was "out of the question" that Hashemi had been involved in the crimes he has been found guilty of, insisting: "We will not hand him over."

Earlier on Monday, Hashemi dismissed the case against him as politically motivated.
He said he would be willing to face a "fair trial", but that the Iraqi courts were under Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's influence.

Hashemi accused Maliki's government of corruption, discrimination, and of fuelling sectarianism.
He said the US was "turning a blind eye" because of the forthcoming US presidential elections.