Muqtada as-Sadr

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Muqtada as-Sadr (left) with Sejjed Ali Taleqani

Muqtada as-Sadr , also Moktada al-Sadr ( Arabic مقتدى الصدر, DMG Muqtadā aṣ-Ṣadr ; * August 12, 1973 in Iraq ), is a radical Iraqi cleric, militia leader and Shiite politician, whose armed forces fought against US and Iraqi troops from 2004 to 2008.

Notation

The Arabic name Muqtada as-Sadr  /مقتدى الصدرis also written Moqtada , Muktada or (French) Mouktada , as-Sadr mostly al-Sadr or al Sadr . In current German-language reporting, his name is usually given as Muktada al-Sadr .

Life

Muqtada is the youngest son of Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq as-Sadr, who was murdered in 1999, and is the head of the non-state Shiite Mahdi army that was formed in June 2003. The al-Mahdi army is the armed arm of the so-called Sadr Front (also: Sadr Group), al-Sadr's radical movement. The number of his militiamen is put at 60,000 men. He can recruit many followers from the youth from the slums of Basra and Baghdad , where he also has his headquarters and can fall back on the network of Shiite charities that his father had set up. Muqtada is considered to be potentially violent and is an opponent of any cooperation with the US as long as these troops are stationed in Iraq. Initially, he also turned against the Iraqi governing council . With his agitation he forms a counterpoint to Grand Ayatollah Ali as-Sistani , the most important Shiite religious authority in Iraq.

2003

Visit abroad

In the spring of 2003 al-Sadr toured Iran , where he was received by Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khāmene'i and Akbar Hāschemi Rafsanjāni . Arab sources reported that the Iranian leadership was betting on al-Sadr as the "new Hassan Nasrallah ". Relations later deteriorated significantly when as-Sadr sharply criticized Iranian highest cleric Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an interview with the Al-Jazeera television channel .

"Sadr City"

Baghdad's northeastern district, which is mainly inhabited by Shiites, was established in 1959 by the first Iraqi Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim as the “City of Revolution” (Madīnat ath-Thaura), but was unofficially only called “City of Revolution” during Saddam Hussein's rule. Saddam City ”(Madīnat Saddām). After the fall of the Iraqi dictator, al-Sadr gained control of the district, which was renamed " Sadr City " a short time later after Muqtada's father Sadiq .

Muqtada as-Sadr initially led a regime in Sadr City with strict Islamic regulations, controlled by its own police force and its own courts. His followers are said to have attacked alcohol-selling beverage shops, video shops and cinemas in the aftermath. Women were also forced to wear a veil. However, in order not to provoke the Americans, As-Sadr quickly adopted pragmatic thinking. As a result, his spokespeople soon distanced themselves from religious violence in Sadr City.

2004

At the beginning of the year, the danger of civil war between Sunnis and Shiites became more and more apparent. At the beginning of April 2004 al-Sadr rehearsed the uprising in Najaf with his supporters, which ended with a compromise in June of the same year. On April 7th, Muktada al-Sadr captured the city of Kut, which had been guarded by Ukrainian soldiers . However, US troops were able to secure the area again on April 9th. From May onwards, US troops were engaged in fighting the conflict until the conflict was resolved. After a short time, al-Sadr's attacks resulted in a fragile ceasefire. On April 4, 20 supporters of al-Sadr were killed by a Spanish brigade in the Shiite pilgrimage city of Najaf in the course of protests. The protest was directed against the arrest of Mustafa Yakubi , a confidante of al-Sadr. Yakubi was linked to the murder of the Islamist Shiite preacher Abdul Majid al-Choi . He died on April 10, 2003 near the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf. In August, al-Sadr began again with the help of his militiamen to cause serious unrest in central Iraq.

After al-Sadr had to hide from the American army, the US commander General Ricardo Sanchez suspected him to be in Najaf. Sanchez was given the task of “catching or killing al-Sadr.” Therefore, from April 13, 2004, the US Army put the Shiite radicals under increased pressure. The fighting over Najaf increased as a result. In the heaviest fighting to date on the night of April 27, 2005, the Allies succeeded in killing 64 members of al-Sadr's "Mahdi Army".

On May 5, 2004, a major American offensive began to excavate the Sunni resistance castles and to break the resistance. An arsenal of the rebels was found in the Sahla Mosque in Kufa , one of the holiest places for the Iraqi Shiites. On May 27, a longer ceasefire was reached in Najaf and Kufa, which al-Sadr, however, canceled again. From June 2004 he fought again with the American and Iraqi security forces in Kufa and in the Bakuba area. From August 5, the fighting in Najaf started again. But there the fighting could after a conciliatory word by Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani on 26./27. August 2004 to be discontinued. As a result, As-Sadr left the city with his militia. A total of 570 people were killed and almost 800 injured in this three-week battle for Najaf alone.

On June 28, 2004, the interim government under Prime Minister Iyad Allawi began its work. He quickly became the main enemy of the Sunni Islamists controlled from abroad under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi . As a radical opponent of the Shiites, the civil war-like unrest between opponents such as al-Zarqawi and al-Sadr as well as other groups and participants continued to come to a head. As-Sadr also saw Allawi as an opponent, as he ruled with very unpopular measures in the catastrophic and sometimes out of control situation. Among other things, he worked with former secret agents of the Baath Party. For its part, the government was unwilling to tolerate the private armies of an al-Sadr in the future.

From autumn 2004, the two main Islamic faiths in the country were almost exclusively engaged in fighting each other, with both sides also carrying out attacks against state authorities. The insurgent Sunnis massed their attacks and murders of Shiites south of Baghdad. This region quickly received the name "triangle of death".

2006

At the beginning of 2006 the situation had calmed down somewhat. There are three supporters of al-Sadr in the new Iraqi government , and some of his supporters are also represented in the National Assembly, above all as candidates for the United Iraqi Alliance , and the National Independent Cadres and Elites party , which won three seats in the election , is said to exist , from followers of al-Sadr.

Unrest broke out again in October 2006 when US troops arrested Sheikh Mazin al-Sa'idi, a confidante of Sadr, whom they hold responsible for leading death squads of the Mahdi militia. Following personal intervention by the Shiite Prime Minister Maliki, he was released; this intervention is said to have caused great resentment among the Americans.

2007

As the fourth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein on April 9, 2007, al-Sadr called for demonstrations against the presence of foreign troops in Iraq. Several hundred thousand people followed this call, especially in Kufa and Najaf, the holy cities of the Shiites. They waved Iraqi flags and shouted “Yes to Iraq”, “Death to the USA” and “Occupiers should leave Iraq”. After an arrest warrant against al-Sadr was issued, he fled to Iran .

2008

According to a Newsweek report in early 2008, al-Sadr was conducting studies in Qom to gain the title of Ayatollah . In March 2008 there was heavy fighting between supporters of al-Sadr and the Iraqi army in Basra. In 2008 As-Sadr also called on the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to support the radical forces in Iraq.

2011

As-Sadr returned from his exile on January 5th, 2011. Observers assume that his return will strengthen the Iranian influence in Iraq, the British newspaper The Guardian even spoke of a “renewed Iranian coup in Iraq”. In his first speech on January 8 in Najaf , he called on his supporters to resist the occupiers , including military ones, but condemned violence against Iraqis.

2014

As-Sadr, who actually wanted to withdraw from politics, called for the formation of militias in view of the advance of the Islamic State . Thousands of Shiite militiamen are still loyal to As-Sadr.

2016

In February 2016, al-Sadr called for important government posts to be filled with technocrats. In the event that this demand goes unheeded, his supporters would storm the green zone in Baghdad, which is secured with walls and barbed wire . Thousands of his followers took to the streets for al-Sadr's demands. After a vote on a cabinet reshuffle failed on April 30, 2016, several hundred Iraqis invaded the Green Zone, in which the government district is located, for the first time since 2003. The Arab news channel al-Arabiya showed pictures of al-Sadr's supporters climbing over protective walls. The intruders also entered parliament, where they waved the Iraqi flag and chanted slogans. The UN mission in Baghdad expressed "serious concern" about the events.

2018

In the election for the Council of Representatives in May 2018, an electoral alliance between the movement of Muqtada as-Sadr and secular forces received a relative majority of the votes. As-Sadr himself did not run, but cemented his influence in Iraqi society.

Statements on the corona pandemic

On March 28, 2020, as-Sadr claimed on Twitter that one of the most serious things that led to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic was legalizing same-sex marriage; this must be lifted immediately by all governments.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The unquiet cleric. In: The Economist . March 19, 2016, accessed March 18, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Heinz Halm : The shiites. A short history. Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton, NJ 2007. ISBN 1-55876-437-2 . P. 172. (in English)
  3. ↑ Karl Derouen, Paul Bellamy: International Security and the United States: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. ISBN 0-275-99253-5 . P. 369. (in English)
  4. ^ Iraq Study Group: The Iraq Study Group Report BiblioBazaar, 2008. ISBN 0-554-34083-6 . P. 21. (in English)
  5. ↑ Michael Lüders : In the heart of Arabia. Pride and passion. Encounter with a torn culture Herder Verlag, Freiburg 2004. ISBN 3-451-28347-6 . P. 156.
  6. ↑ What connections does the Iraqi militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr have with Iran? , May 23, 2008
  7. ↑ Guido Steinberg : The near and the far enemy: the networks of Islamist terrorism , Beck Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-577-14104-2 , p. 205
  8. ^ Christian Kreß: Neorealistic explanation of the motives for the military intervention of the USA in Iraq 2003 , GRIN Verlag, Munich and Ravensburg 2007, ISBN 3-638-66281-0 , p. 12
  9. ^ A b Ernst Christian Schütt: Chronik 2004 , Wissen Media Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-577-14104-2 , p. 64
  10. ↑ Guido Steinberg: The near and the far enemy: the networks of Islamic terrorism , Beck Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-577-14104-2 , p. 204
  11. ↑ a b c Ernst Christian Schütt: Chronik 2004 , Wissen Media Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-406-53515-1 , p. 68
  12. ^ Ernst Christian Schütt: Chronicle 2004 , Wissen Media Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-577-14104-2 , p. 106
  13. ^ A b Ernst Christian Schütt: Chronik 2004 , Wissen Media Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-577-14104-2 , p. 147
  14. ^ Heinz Halm: The Shiites , CH Beck publishing house. Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-50858-8 , p. 120.
  15. ↑ Guido Steinberg: The near and the far enemy: the networks of Islamist terrorism , Beck Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-577-14104-2 , p. 202
  16. ↑ Guido Steinberg: The near and the far enemy: the networks of Islamist terrorism , Beck Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-577-14104-2 , p. 206
  17. ↑ Der Spiegel : Sadr incites militia, hundreds of thousands follow the call to protest ; April 9, 2007
  18. ↑ 20min.ch of January 7, 2010 The Return of the Hate Preacher
  19. ↑ Babak Dehghanpisheh: The Great Moqtada Makeover in Newsweek, January 19, 2008
  20. ↑ http://www.n-tv.de/939804.html?270320082250
  21. ↑ 20min.ch of January 7, 2010 The Return of the Hate Preacher
  22. ↑ Call for resistance against the USA. January 8, 2011, accessed January 10, 2011 .
  23. ^ Protests escalate in Baghdad , tagesschau.de, April 30, 2016
  24. ↑ Alex MacDonald: Coronavirus: Iraqis criticize Muqtada al-Sadr for same-sex marriage claims. In: Middle East Eye . March 30, 2020, accessed April 3, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Sadr, Muqtada as-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES مقتدى الصدر; al-Sadr, Moktada
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iraqi Shiite leader
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Iraq