Moqtada al Sadr mobilisiert im Irak die Straße

Nachdem Wahlsieger als Sadr vor einigen Wochen die Parlamentarier seines Blocks zurückgezogen und Regierungsgespräche für gescheitert erklärt hatte, war die Frage, was er als nächstes tun würde.

Die Vermutung, er würde erneut die Straße mobilisieren, lag nahe und hat sich nun bewahrheitet. Vergangenen Freitag demonstrierten hunderttausende seiner Anhänger in Bagdad mit einer deutlichen Botschaft an den Iran:

Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, held a rally on Friday amid stalled talks on forming a new government, a show of force against Iran-backed groups.(...)

In a message read out to his supporters during the service, Sadr -- who is against Iran’s presence in Iraq -- renewed his call to dismantle outlaw armed factions, referring to Iran-backed Shiite militia Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as Popular Mobilization Forces, which was led by former Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis before he was killed alongside Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 by a US drone strike..

Sadr reiterated his demand to reorganize the Hashd al-Shaabi and keep it away from foreign interventions – an indirect reference to Iran – adding that the ranks of these forces should be cleansed of incompetent people. 

He also said Hashd al-Shaabi should not be involved in sectarian conflicts, noting that they should withdraw from the Sunni-dominant areas. 

Moreover, Sadr also called for more authority and respect for army and police forces, saying that outlaw groups should not be able to intervene in military matters. 

He noted that "It's not possible to form a strong Iraqi government with unlawful militias. You must dissolve all those factions... "the first step to repentance is to punish the corrupt without delay". 

The Shiite cleric added that most of those who hindered forming the government, "do not believe, deep down, that loving the homeland is part of their faith, and chose to belong to foreign parties. I invite them to prioritize their love for the homeland, and deal with other countries reciprocally."