Media Wire

Muqtada al-Sadr ‘withdraws’ from Iraqi politics

The Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has announced that he is quitting political life and closing his political offices in a move that could further inflame tensions in the Arab country.

“I hereby announce my final withdrawal,” al-Sadr said on Monday.

The statement, published on Twitter, comes amid months of protests by his supporters backing his call for the dissolution of the Iraqi parliament.

In his statement, al-Sadr attacked his political opponents and stated they had not listened to his calls for reform.

Many of al-Sadr’s supporters have been participating in a sit-in outside the Iraqi parliament since the end of July when they stormed the building and stopped al-Sadr’s rivals from appointing a new prime minister.

Reacting to their leader’s statement, many of those supporters at the sit-in attempted to bring down security barriers and converge on a rival sit-in.

Al-Sadr’s supporters had won the most seats in October’s parliamentary elections but were unable to form a government.

He ordered his parliamentary bloc to resign en-masse in June, which they promptly did, although this handed the initiative in parliament to his Shia opponents, the Coordination Framework Alliance.

Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court is meeting on Tuesday to decide on whether the parliament will be dissolved.

Al-Sadr has announced his withdrawal from political life before, only to walk his decision back.

IFP Media Wire

Reports and views published in the Media Wire section have been retrieved from other news agencies and websites, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Iran Front Page (IFP) news website. The IFP may change the headlines of the reports in a bid to make them compatible with its own style of covering Iran News, and does not make any changes to the content. The source and URL of all reports and news stories are mentioned at the bottom of each article.

Recent Posts

US suggests Ukraine consider ceding territories: El Pais

US President-elect Donald Trump has sent a message to Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, asking him…

54 minutes ago

Iranian official touts  blanket removal of internet filtering, dismisses step-by-step plan as ‘ineffective’

A member of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace has voiced his opposition to the government's…

55 minutes ago

Sacked Persepolis coach Garrido bids emotional farewell

Juan Carlos Garrido, the former head coach of Persepolis, shared an emotional farewell message on…

2 hours ago

Sanctions against Syria must be lifted ‘as soon as possible’: Turkish FM

Ankara has called for the anti-Syria sanctions to be lifted "as soon as possible" as…

2 hours ago

Yemen’s Houthis claim downing US F-18 fighter jet

The Houthis in Yemen have claimed that they have successfully thwarted a joint American-British attack…

2 hours ago

Historic all-Women flight lands in Mashhad

For the first time in Iran's aviation history, a flight carrying an all-female crew and…

14 hours ago