Interpublic's Cassidy & Associates has inked a $120K one-year pact to represent Iraq's Tajdeed Party, which is the political organization of the country’s exiled former vice president, Tariq Al-Hashimi.

Tajdeed claims to be the voice of Iraq's minority Sunni sect. Al-Hashimi was charged in Dec. 2011 with running hit squads to conduct terror attacks against officials in the Shitte-controlled government.

Iraq's Kurdistan region, which is Sunni majority, refused to turn over Al-Hashimi, who has denied all charges, to the central government in Baghdad. He then traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which granted him residency.

According to Cassidy's contract, the firm is to educate U.S. policymakers about the Tajdeed party's priority issues and long-term goals "on a limited but reasonable basis."