Iraqi cleric threatens to end militia freeze unless attacks stop

Senior aides to the powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Jan. 31 warned the US and the Iraqi government that a six-month freeze on the activities of their militia may not be extended unless the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, takes steps to halt attacks on Sadr's followers. Sadr's order to his Jaish al-Mahdi militia is regarded as a vital component of the nationwide downturn in violence during the past half year. Fighters loyal to Sadr had been partially blamed for fueling the sectarian violence that gripped Baghdad and religiously mixed areas to the north and south of the capital. A renewal of their activities could undo much of the recent progress in security on the ground and stir up tensions among Iraq's Shia Muslims. Speaking to the Guardian from his base in the holy city of Najaf, Sadr's senior spokesman, Salah al-Obeidi, said that gangs of thugs linked to Sadr's Shia political rivals had infiltrated Iraqi security forces and were using the surge as a cover to attack "civilian followers" of the radical cleric. He said Sadr's supporters and their families in the southern cities of Diwaniya, Kerbala and Samawa had been subject to "the worst kind of human rights abuses, including killings and beatings." "More than 1,000 families have been displaced," said Obeidi. He declined to name the group he held responsible, but Sadr's supporters have frequently clashed with the Badr brigades, an armed group loyal to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, their chief rival for control of Iraq's newly dominant Shia majority. He said the prime minister was being "pressured by people and parties around him" and that "Iraq needed a new team" in government. "We think the decision by Moqtada al-Sadr to freeze the Jaish al-Mahdi was a good one and has had important benefits for the Iraq people, and the freeze will continue," said Obeidi. "But there is concern from our followers that ordering another period [of the ceasefire] will only give a green light to these bad police -- some of them from Saddam's time -- to make more pressure against us and harass us." Sadr is due to review the six-month freeze later this month. Last week, the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, wrote to the senior US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, asking him to recognize Sadr's initiative and urging US troops to halt their attacks on Sadr's supporters. In reply, Petraeus praised the anti-US Shia cleric, but said the troops would continue to target those who were apparently not obeying the cleric's orders.