“There is no evidence against him,” said his wife, Besma Ali, 22. “This government wants to take revenge on the people.”

Habshi is among the countless Sunni men ensnarled in Iraq’s backlogged and corruption-plagued court system. In a country that is slowly coming to terms with a vicious sectarian war, their treatment has become among the most combustible flash points…

The reappointment of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, this month has raised concerns among Sunnis that abuses will continue unchecked because Sunni leaders were unable to get firm promises about reforms in detainee treatment as part of the government formation deal.

“The Sunnis will soon be in the same position as the Palestinians,” said Habshi’s cousin, Ibrahim Ahmed Rababshi, 42. “We will be pushed out, and we eventually won’t have a single Sunni mosque left.”