Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council has delayed the trial of the country’s vice-president Tareq al-Hashemi, who has been accused of funding terrorism, pending a ruling from the Federal Appeals Court on the conduct of the trial.

Al-Hashemi, who is believed to be in hiding in Turkey has refused to return to Iraq where his trial is being conducted in absentia. His defence team submitted a series of appeals to the federal court.

No date has been set for the trial to resume, according to AFP news agency.

The Iraq government issued an arrest warrant for the Sunni vice -president in December 2011, along with several of his bodyguards. Al-Hashemi then fled to the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq and then on to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.