Once again, Moqtada Sadr surprises his world in Iraq, supporters and opponents alike. A way to impose its rhythm on the political life of the country. The Shiite religious leader, a key figure in Iraq, announced on Friday that he was suspending for at least a year most of the activities of his movement, the Sadrist Current. The troublemaker of Iraqi political life, who appears to be a herald of change and the fight against corruption of the political elites, is used to taking his supporters and opponents alike by surprise with his surprise decisions announced on social networks. Like when he had assured on Twitter to retire "definitively" from politics last year.

Moqtada Sadr enjoys a strong popular base thanks to his family heritage and tens of thousands of Iraqis obey him with his finger and eye: he comes from a line of Shiite clerics who descend from the prophet of Islam. His father, Mohammed Sadek Sadr, assassinated by Saddam Hussein's regime in 1999, is still revered. "That I am a reformer for Iraq (...) but that I cannot reform the Sadrist current is a sin," Moqtada Sadr said on Twitter.

An investigation into a small support group

"Continuing at the head of the Sadrist Current while there are 'supporters of the case', some corrupt, and harmful sins are committed, is a serious issue," he said. Because on social networks, Iraqi media and Internet users have shared a video attributed to an obscure group, "The supporters of the case", calling to "pledge allegiance to the expected Imam, Sayyed Moqtada Sadr", thus making the latter the Mahdi, the hidden imam whose return the Shiites hope for.

An investigating judge in Baghdad has also issued arrest warrants for "65 suspects" members of this group, "which promotes ideas causing dissension and violating the security of society," according to a statement from the judicial authorities. It is because of this case that the religious leader announced "freezing" his power for "at least a year", but assured that the measure did not concern religious activities: neither Friday prayers, nor the "Heritage Institution", dedicated to the memory of his father, as well as another religious site of the movement.



In the summer of 2022, in the midst of a Shiite standoff over the appointment of a prime minister, Moqtada Sadr announced his "definitive withdrawal" from politics, leading to deadly clashes in Baghdad between his supporters on one side, the army and former Shiite paramilitaries on the other. A few months earlier, when his party dominated Parliament, he had taken the entire country by surprise by ordering his 73 MPs to resign.

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