Iraqi ex-minister says seeks US protection

[Flash Walken]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A former Iraqi electricity minister who holds American citizenship said he had sought U.S. protection after an Iraqi court sentenced him on Wednesday to two years in jail for misusing public money.

Ayham al-Samarraie, a Sunni who served in the first post-war interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, had been in Iraqi custody since his arrest on charges of financial and managerial corruption in August.

A source in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said U.S. officials had taken him from the courtroom at the central criminal court in Baghdad after sentencing.

"I am under American protection," Samarraie told Reuters by telephone, without explaining how he had managed to leave the court. In an earlier call, he said he was at the U.S. embassy.

An embassy official, who declined to be named, denied he was at the mission, situated in the sprawling, heavily fortified Green Zone, entry into which is tightly controlled.

If Samarraie's presence is confirmed, it could be politically embarrassing for the Americans, who have repeatedly stressed the independence of the Iraqi judiciary.

Embarassing