BAGHDAD (AFP) – Thousands of supporters of Iraqi Shia leader Moqtada Sadr gathered Friday for a Baghdad prayer service, in an attempt to influence stalled talks on forming a new government.
After the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, this district of the capital was named after Mohammad Sadr, Moqtada’s father, a cleric who was assassinated in 1999 under Saddam’s rule.
The Friday prayers were ostensibly organized as a tribute to Sadr’s father.
In scorching heat, several thousand people gathered on al-Falah Avenue, watched by a large security presence, according to a journalist.
Prayer mats in hand, participants waved Iraqi flags.
“We obey Moqtada Sadr,” Sheikh Kadhim Hafez Mohammed al-Tai said.
In addition to his religious authority — considered “sayyid,” a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) — Sadr exercises significant political influence in Iraq.
His parliamentary bloc won 73 seats in the October 2021 election, making it the largest legislative faction.
But since the election, talks to form a new government have stalled and the country remains mired in political crisis.
The various Shia political factions, representing Iraq’s largest demographic, remain unable to agree on a new prime minister.