BAGHDAD (AP/AFP) – Influential Iraqi cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr announced on Friday that he would suspend the movement he leads for one year, citing “corruption” among some of his followers.
On Friday, Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council announced that an investigative court had ordered the arrest of 65 alleged members of the “Owners of the Cause,” a group within his Sadrist movement, which it described as a disruptive “gang.”
In a statement posted on his Twitter account, al-Sadr said, “I want to be a reformer for Iraq, and I cannot reform the Sadrist movement.” He added that he will freeze all activities of the movement — except for religious activities such as Friday prayers.
Al-Sadr resigned from politics last August, following a nearly yearlong deadlock in the formation of a new cabinet. His party won the largest share of seats in the October 2021 parliamentary elections, but not enough to secure a majority government.
Al-Sadr’s refusal to negotiate with his rivals and his subsequent exit from the talks catapulted the country into political uncertainty and volatility amid intensifying wrangling.
After al-Sadr announced his resignation from politics, hundreds of his angry followers stormed the government palace and clashed with security forces. At least 15 protesters were killed.
Al-Sadr had won a mass base of followers, many of whom hail from Iraq’s poorest sectors of society, with nationalist rhetoric and promises of reform.
His rise was aided by the reputation of his father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadek Sadr, whom former dictator Saddam Hussein had assassinated in 1999.
The mausoleum in the city of Najaf where his father is buried would remain closed through the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan that ends later in April, according to Sadr’s statement.
“And it is a serious issue to continue leading the Sadrist movement as it includes... some corrupt elements” within it, he said.