DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, (AP) – Qatar’s state news agency says Iraq’s fugitive Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi has arrived in the Gulf nation on an “official visit.”

The Qatar News Agency said al-Hashemi arrived in the capital Doha on Sunday and will stay for several days.

Al-Hashemi is Iraq’s highest-ranking Sunni official. Iraqi officials accuse him of running death squads against Shiite pilgrims, government officials and security forces.

He denies the charges. He has been staying in Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region to avoid an arrest warrant issued in December.