After the fall of the dictator, Saddam Hussein, the anti-American cleric succeeded in organizing a fresh young militia group called the Mahdi Army which stubbornly fought with the invading Western nations in Iraq. Through constructing barricades in the shrine of Imam Ali (S) and Kufa Mosque, the group inscribed a memory in the mind of people living in the holy city of Najaf.
He faced the charge of involvement in the killing of Hojjatoleslam Abdolmajod Kho'ei, a prominent moderate Iraqi Shi'ite cleric who was murdered in Najaf. The accusation provoked groups of people in Najaf and Baghdad. A few days ago reports on this prosecution led to demonstration in Najaf.
But nowadays the traces of Moqtada al-Sadr can hardly be found in Iraq, the rare instances include two photos of him put on the walls of Kufa Mosque.
After the military moves of the radical cleric died down all at once, the rumors spread on his arrival to Iran. However after a photo was published showing him in the Iranian holy city of Qom in November, doubts about his living in Iran turned to conviction.
The photo had been taken at the memorial service held for the late Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Sadeq Sadr. He is currently studying in Qom to lift his religious rank, and consequently his leadership credentials.
Living some years in hideout, he finally re-emerged at a news conference in Tehran on Saturday, March 6. Speaking on the parliamentary election in Iraq he hoped that any winner faction could serve Iraqi people.
"Although holding elections under the shadow of occupation does not have legitimacy, I ask the Iraqi people to participate in the national vote and turn it to a political resistance move so that the ground is provided for occupiers to leave Iraq," Sadr said.
His movement is a key player in a Shi'ite-led coalition taking part in the election, and it wants to be influential in Iraq's next parliament.
The movement is widely supported, mostly among the Shi'ite poor in the oil-producing south and deprived urban areas such as Baghdad's Sadr City slum.
Sadr's recent official statement was his first in Iran. Reactions to his presence in the soil of the Islamic Republic and his next moves remain to be seen.
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