German court convicts 3 of trying to kill ex Iraqi PM

STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - A German court on Tuesday sentenced three Iraqis for plotting to assassinate former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi nearly four years ago.

The court in the southern German city of Stuttgart said the men were members of Ansar al-Islam, an insurgent group which the United States has linked to al Qaeda, and had tried to kill Allawi during a visit to Berlin in December 2004.

At the end of a two-year trial, the court sentenced the group's accused ringleader Ata R., 34, to 10 years in jail, and handed 26-year old Mazen H. a sentence of seven years and six months. Rafik Y., 33, was sentenced to eight years in jail.

The three men were arrested in Germany on the basis of intercepted phone calls in which Rafik Y. was alleged to have sought the go-ahead to kill Allawi.

When the others agreed, he drove through central Berlin to spy out a Deutsche Bank building where the Iraqi leader was due to hold a meeting the next day, according to the charges. Police arrested all three that night. (Reporting by Franz-Norbert Piontek; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)