By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US troops arrested the son of Iraq's top Shi'ite politician Friday as he returned to the country from Iran, Shi'ite officials said.
Amar al-Hakim, son of political leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, was taken into custody at the Zirbatyah crossing point and was transferred to a US facility in Kut, according to the elder al-Hakim's secretary, Jamal al-Sagheer.
Al-Sagheer said the younger al-Hakim's security guards were also detained.
A US spokesman, Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, said he was looking into the report and "we will release information as it becomes available."
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim is leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's largest Shi'ite party with longtime ties to Iran. Al-Hakim's party is part of the Shi'ite alliance that includes Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.