Nov. 17 (Reuters) - Iraq's Shi'ite-led government has ordered the arrest of leading Sunni cleric Sheikh Harith al-Dari on suspicion of terrorism, accusing him of trying to foment division between Shi'ites and Sunnis in Iraq.

Following are some facts about Dari:

-- The best-known Sunni religious authority in Iraq, though there is no formal hierarchy, Dari is an outspoken critic of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government and its plan to reconcile Shi'ite and Sunni sects, which he says will fail because it sets no timetable for U.S. withdrawal and does not include talks with Baathist and al Qaeda insurgent groups.

-- Dari, grey-bearded and normally dressed in a traditional red-chequered headdress and the robes of a tribal sheikh, heads the Muslim Clerics' Association, an umbrella group that brings together religious leaders of Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority.

-- The U.S. State Department says his association is believed to have ties to and influence over Sunni insurgent groups. For his part, Dari says the "resistance" fighting to oust U.S. forces from Iraq are exercising "a legitimate right upheld by all heavenly and man-made laws and regulations".

-- Iraqi government leaders were incensed this week by comments Dari made on television that they said defended al Qaeda violence. Dari said in the interview that al Qaeda militants were "resisting occupation" but distanced his association from any group that killed innocent Iraqis.

-- In February, the Muslim Scholars Association accused Iraqi police of trying to arrest Dari at his Baghdad home. They said two young nieces were wounded in an ensuing gunbattle with his guards. Many members of the association have been kidnapped or killed in attacks by gunmen since then.

-- President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd and fellow Sunni, this week accused Dari, who is now in Jordan, of promoting "sectarian sedition" with the support of Arab countries. Dari says the violence gripping Iraq is not a war between Sunnis and Shi'ites but a fight for political supremacy between among rival parties.

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