Iraq’s top Shiite religious leaders, the populist cleric Moktada al-Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called Wednesday for Iraqis to defer their protests, leading many members of the country’s Shiite majority to say they would not join in nationwide demonstrations scheduled for Friday.
Many Sunnis said they still planned to go ahead with the demonstrations, which are being billed as a "day of rage." But the Shiite withdrawal dealt a significant blow to protest organizers, who had hoped to fill Iraq’s streets with millions of people to call for improved government services.
The appeals from Mr. Sadr came as he returned to Iraq from Iran, where he is studying to become a powerful religious leader.Mr. Sadr, however, did not make the appeal himself. At a news conference in Baghdad, a top leader of his movement said Iraqis should put off any protests for six months, giving the recently formed government a chance to improve the economy and services like electricity.
Just a week ago, Mr. Sadr issued a statement saying that over a million of his supporters should protest peacefully to motivate the government to improve its services. He said the government was unlikely to do so because the United States occupied the country and there was rampant corruption in the Iraqi government.
His followers took note of the latest signal. "I will not go out for the demonstration and I will not do or say anything unless Moktada says so," said Imad Ali, a 41-year-old Shiite from Sadr City, a poor Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad.
A spokesman for Ayatollah Sistani, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that the ayatollah sympathized with the demands of the people but that the demonstration could be "out of control" and "be exploited by people with special agendas."The statements from Mr. Sadr were particularly surprising because he has often been at odds with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whom many protesters blame for the lack of government services.
"This was a huge break for Maliki," said Zaid al-Ali, a legal adviser for the United Nations on parliamentary and constitutional issues from 2005 to 2010, in a telephone interview. "There is a lot of fear among politicians in Iraq about what is going to happen on Friday. Without a lot of Shiite participation, a lot of air will be taken out of the protests."
Mr. Sadr is widely seen as the only one who can rival Mr. Maliki for the support of the Iraqi people. In 2008, Mr. Maliki sent troops into southern Iraq to clear the cities of Mr. Sadr’s militias, ultimately leading Mr. Sadr to abandon them.
But Mr. Sadr’s partisans did very well in last March’s election and later provided key support to Mr. Maliki so he could become the prime minister."It’s almost impossible to know why Sadr would help Maliki like this," Mr. Ali said, "but his party is now part of the government and he likely doesn’t want to see the government fall or be weakened by this."
According to a top Sadrist leader, Hazem Araji, Mr. Sadr plans to organize an informal referendum, beginning Sunday, to ask Iraqis if they think that the government has improved its services and whether they would protest against the government in six months if the services had not improved.
Mr. Sadr returned to Iraq in January, after more than three years of self-imposed exile in Qum, Iran, where he has been studying. A little more than two weeks after his return to Iraq, he inexplicably went back to Iran.
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and YASIR GHAZI, New York Times
Many Sunnis said they still planned to go ahead with the demonstrations, which are being billed as a "day of rage." But the Shiite withdrawal dealt a significant blow to protest organizers, who had hoped to fill Iraq’s streets with millions of people to call for improved government services.
The appeals from Mr. Sadr came as he returned to Iraq from Iran, where he is studying to become a powerful religious leader.Mr. Sadr, however, did not make the appeal himself. At a news conference in Baghdad, a top leader of his movement said Iraqis should put off any protests for six months, giving the recently formed government a chance to improve the economy and services like electricity.
Just a week ago, Mr. Sadr issued a statement saying that over a million of his supporters should protest peacefully to motivate the government to improve its services. He said the government was unlikely to do so because the United States occupied the country and there was rampant corruption in the Iraqi government.
His followers took note of the latest signal. "I will not go out for the demonstration and I will not do or say anything unless Moktada says so," said Imad Ali, a 41-year-old Shiite from Sadr City, a poor Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad.
A spokesman for Ayatollah Sistani, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that the ayatollah sympathized with the demands of the people but that the demonstration could be "out of control" and "be exploited by people with special agendas."The statements from Mr. Sadr were particularly surprising because he has often been at odds with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whom many protesters blame for the lack of government services.
"This was a huge break for Maliki," said Zaid al-Ali, a legal adviser for the United Nations on parliamentary and constitutional issues from 2005 to 2010, in a telephone interview. "There is a lot of fear among politicians in Iraq about what is going to happen on Friday. Without a lot of Shiite participation, a lot of air will be taken out of the protests."
Mr. Sadr is widely seen as the only one who can rival Mr. Maliki for the support of the Iraqi people. In 2008, Mr. Maliki sent troops into southern Iraq to clear the cities of Mr. Sadr’s militias, ultimately leading Mr. Sadr to abandon them.
But Mr. Sadr’s partisans did very well in last March’s election and later provided key support to Mr. Maliki so he could become the prime minister."It’s almost impossible to know why Sadr would help Maliki like this," Mr. Ali said, "but his party is now part of the government and he likely doesn’t want to see the government fall or be weakened by this."
According to a top Sadrist leader, Hazem Araji, Mr. Sadr plans to organize an informal referendum, beginning Sunday, to ask Iraqis if they think that the government has improved its services and whether they would protest against the government in six months if the services had not improved.
Mr. Sadr returned to Iraq in January, after more than three years of self-imposed exile in Qum, Iran, where he has been studying. A little more than two weeks after his return to Iraq, he inexplicably went back to Iran.
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and YASIR GHAZI, New York Times
0 Comments