Press Release
Iraq from Political Dead End to the Unknown
(Translated)

Since the October elections last year, Iraq has entered into a cycle of political impasse, due to the Shiite-Shiite dispute over the form of government between the majority advocated by the Sadrist movement, and the consociationalism called for by the Coordination Framework. Then the scene became more complicated when the latter activated the blocking third option, which prevented choosing the President of the Republic, and then disrupting the selection of the Prime Minister and the formation of the government.

Muqtada al-Sadr did nothing but instruct his current deputies to withdraw from the political process, then take to the street and storm the Iraqi parliament, and reject calls for dialogue, under the slogan: No dialogue with the corrupt; and thus the Iraqi situation became lost and confusion.

Until the Shiite cleric Kazem Al-Haeri announced on Monday, August 29, 2022, his retirement from the reference work, and the recommendation to follow the reference of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader in Iran, justifying this by his poor health and advanced age that prevented him from carrying out the duties of the reference, and he said in his statement: All believers obey the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, His Eminence, the Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, May his shadow be long (i.e. life span), his Eminence is the best and most qualified to lead the nation and manage the struggle with the forces of oppression and arrogance in these circumstances in which the forces of disbelief and evil have battled against the authentic Muhammadan Islam.”

This clearly shows the Iranian pressure on Al-Haeri to abandon Muqtada Al-Sadr, to whom his reference belongs, and this was explicit in his statement, in which he said: “The sons of the two martyrs, May Allah sanctify their secret, must know that the love of the two martyrs is not sufficient unless faith is accompanied by their approach with good work and true adherence to their goals for which they sacrificed themselves for. The mere claim or affiliation is not sufficient, and whoever seeks to separate the people and the sect in the name of the two martyrs, may Allah be pleased with them, or addresses the leadership in their name while he is lacking in jurisprudence or the rest of the conditions required for the legitimate leadership is - in fact - not a Sadrist, no matter what he claims or his affiliation with.”

Al-Sadr’s response to this decision was announcing his final retirement from political affairs in a tweet to him on Twitter, and he said: “Many people, including Mr. Al-Haeri, May his shadow last, think that this leadership came thanks to them or by order. No, that is by the grace of my Lord in the first place, and from the blessings of my father, who sanctified his secret, who did not abandon Iraq and its people. He added that: "Najaf al-Ashraf is the largest headquarters of the religious authority, as is always the case," and stressed that Al-Hairi's decision was not of his own volition, in a clear reference to the Iranian pressure.

As a result of these statements, the country entered into complete chaos, as the demonstrators stormed the Republican Palace, and thousands of demonstrators went out in the rest of the provinces, and a curfew was announced throughout the country from seven in the evening, until further notice, and Al Sharqiya TV reported that “Al-Kazemi supervises the security deployment. And the military dealing with the green demonstrations.”

From the foregoing, these accelerating events lead the country to more complexity that does not rule out the extent of fighting, and this is what America is betting on, so that it will then play the role of the savior to impose solutions that serve its interests and projects in the region.

O Muslims in Iraq:

We have told you before, and we have made it clear to you repeatedly, that the occupying foreign powers and their henchmen from the regional states and the political blocs that rule you, do not care about you, do not care about your problems or your suffering, and their only concern is their interests, and what you see today of dead and wounded among your ranks is the best evidence that they are not concerned with which valley you will perish. The Iraqi political scene is not spontaneous, but rather an active doing, through which it wants to achieve its interests and implement its plans.

O Muslims:

These sacrifices will be in vain, as others have gone, unless they realize the reality of the problem and the reality of the solution. The reality of the problem is the political system and its constitution imposed by the American occupier, through which sectarianism and ethnicity are rooted in the country, and this tragic scene will remain in the country, as long as this democratic system remains. The corrupt that makes man a legislator instead of Allah is the one who controls the fate of peoples.

The reality of the cure is for the Ummah to be aware that the defect is in this system, so it revolts against it and establishes in its place a system in which sovereignty rests with the Creator alone, a just human system, in which there is no preference for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a white over a black except by piety. The Ummah knows what it has and what it owes, and the ruler knows what Allah has entrusted him with in implementing his law, and that he is a shepherd who has been entrusted by Allah and will ask him about what he has entrusted him with, in accordance with what he (saw) said: «كُلُّكُمْ رَاعٍ وَكُلُّكُمْ مَسْؤُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ؛ فَالْأَمِيرُ الَّذِي عَلَى النَّاسِ رَاعٍ عَلَيْهِمْ وَهُوَ مَسْؤُولٌ عَنْهُمْ...» “Each of you is a shepherd and each of you is responsible for his flock. The Ameer who is over the people is a shepherd and is responsible for his flock…” [Sahih].

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Iraq