Powerful anti-US cleric Muqtada Al Sadr quits Iraqi politics

Firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, leader of a powerful political movement and a major figure in the formation of post-Saddam Iraq, has announced his exit from politics two months before legislative polls.

Shiite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr has decided to quit politics, distancing himself from any political movement that uses his name. Khalid Mohammed/AP

BAGHDAD // One of Iraq’s most influential Shiite clerics, Muqtada Al Sadr, says he has decided to quit politics, distancing himself from any political movement that uses his name.

Mr Al Sadr has made such announcements before but the current declaration comes only two months before national parliamentary elections. Sadarists hold 40 out of 325 seats in the legislature, making them the largest single Shiite bloc, and hold six Cabinet seats.

In the late Saturday statement, Mr Al Sadr said his move was to “preserve the reputation of the Al Sadr (family)... and to put an end to all the wrongdoings that were conducted, or could be conducted, under their title.” It did not explain further.

But two members of his political bloc Ahrar, which holds roughly an eighth of the seats in parliament, said he was angry after they defied his orders by voting in favour of a controversial bill that guarantees legislators high pensions.

“I announce here that I will not interfere in politics. There is no political entity that represents me anymore nor any position in parliament and government,” said the statement. “Whoever acts against this will be subjected to legal and religious action.” He also ordered all Al Sadr political offices to be closed down.

The move did not appear to be expected. Al Sadr officials could not be reached for contact. The movement announced a news conference, only to cancel it.

Mr Al Sadr came to prominence in the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, whose regime killed his father and grandfather. He established his Mahdi Army militia — estimated to have had up to 60,000 members — that fought against US forces before their withdrawal in December 2011 and became a powerful presence in government after his bloc’s backing for Shiite prime minister Nouri Al Maliki helped secure his position.

But the two later fell out, with Mr Al Sadr criticising Mr Al Maliki for amassing too much power, and analysts said his withdrawal from politics could work in favour of the premier.

It is not clear what effect Mr Al Sadr’s decision would have on his bloc’s participation in parliamentary elections scheduled for April.

“Sadr’s decision will definitely play into the hands of prime minister Maliki in the next election in one way or another,” said Ali Ameer, an analyst specialising in Shiite religious affairs.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s main Al Qaeda breakaway group claimed on Sunday responsibility for an audacious attack on a military barracks that killed 15 troops last week.

The troops were assigned to protect an oil pipeline that sends Iraqi crude oil to international markets, as well as to guard a nearby motorway outside the northern city of Mosul. Eight of the soldiers were beheaded in the Monday attack while the rest were killed by gunfire.

Along with the statement, posted on a website commonly used by Islamist militants, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant put up an image of the beheading of one of the soldiers, as well as captured arms and vehicles. They statement also listed other attacks against security forces in and around Mosul, about 360 kilometres north-west of Baghdad.

The authenticity of the statement couldn’t be independently verified, but its style was consistent with previous statements.

Violence continued on Sunday.

Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint outside the northern city of Kirkuk, killing five policemen, said Col Abbas Hussein. Armed with weapons fitted with silencers, the gunmen first shot two policemen who were manning the checkpoint then moved to a trailer to kill the rest, Col Hussein added.

In Baghdad’s northern neighbourhood of Chikok, a parked car bomb ripped through a commercial area, killing four civilians and wounding 14 others, a police officer and a medical official said on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorised to release information.

Iraq is undergoing a surge in violence, its worst since 2008, which has become the Shiite-led government’s most serious challenge. Violence has spiked since last April, when security forces cracked down on a Sunni protest camp north of Baghdad. According to the UN, 8,868 people were killed in Iraq last year — the country’s highest death toll since a peak of sectarian bloodletting in 2007.

* Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters