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Al-Sistani returns to Iraq

Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, has returned to the chaotic country yesterday and called on followers to join him in a march to reclaim his violence-torn city of Najaf, his spokesman said.

Al-Sistani, 73, underwent an angioplasty, a procedure to unblock a coronary artery, on Aug. 13 in London. He had left Iraq on Aug. 6, shortly after fighting broke out in Najaf, where he lives. US and Iraqi forces have battled militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr for more than two weeks there.

"His eminence Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani will arrive in beloved Iraq in a few hours and he will return to the holy city of Najaf to rescue it from its ordeal," Hamed al-Khafaf said in an e-mail.

Al-Khafaf, who had accompanied al-Sistani to London, was not answering his mobile telephone.

Another al-Sistani spokesman, al-Sayyid Murtadha al-Kashmiri, said by telephone from London that the senior cleric "is in good health and left the hospital three or four days ago."

He said al-Sistani planned to return to Iraq, but refused to say when or whether he already had left.

Al-Khafaf told the Dubai-based Arab satellite television station al-Arabiya that al-Sistani "will lead thousands of followers on a march to holy Najaf."

"We call upon all devout Iraqis who follow him" from all over the country to be "on alert to head to holy Najaf under his leadership," al-Khafaf told the station. He said an announcement on the next steps will be made later.

Al-Sistani's return could play a crucial role in stabilizing Najaf, with Iraqi Shiites looking to his leadership amid violence that has engulfed the city.

Al-Sadr's supporters, who oppose the US military presence in Iraq, have taken over the Imam Ali Mosque, the tomb of Ali, who is the most revered Shiite figure. At one point, al-Sadr agreed to hand over the keys to the shrine to al-Sistani's representatives as a way to end the conflict, but those negotiations bogged down amid renewed fighting.

Since Iraq fell under US occupation in April of last year, al-Sistani has been more active in politics, meeting US-appointed Iraqi officials and foreign dignitaries. Unlike al-Sadr, al-Sistani has not called for military resistance against the Americans, but he has been critical of the occupation.

Al-Sadr has refused to recognize the US-led political process and Iraq's interim government, which al-Sistani also has said lacks the "legitimacy of elections" and does not represent in an acceptable manner all segments of Iraqi society.
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