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Arrest Warrant
For Sadr 'Illegal': Iraqi Judges By Aws Al-Sharqy, IOL
Correspondent BAGHDAD, April 7 (IslamOnline.net)
– As the Iraqi Governing Council Wednesday, April 7, urged investigations into
the American military use of "deliberate" force against civilians, the Iraqi
Jurists Association said the arrest warrant against Shiite leader Muqtada Sadr
is "illegal and based on a lie". "The arrest warrant is illegal and
incorrect, as the occupation forces issued it in disregard for sovereignty of
Iraq's justice system," the Association said in a statement a copy of which was
obtained by IslamOnline.net. A U.S. military spokesman said two
days ago the warrant had been issued "in the last several months" by an Iraqi judge
investigating last April's murder of a pro-Western Shiite leader one year ago.
"What justice are you talking
about? You have dismissed 170 justices of their offices and violated the
independence of justice here," read the statement. Iraqi Minister of Justice
Abdel-Rahim Al-Shibly had told national press that he had not been aware of the
arrest warrant against Sadr. Sadr is known for his fiery
speeches against U.S. occupation forces, calling for the continuum of resistance
operations until ejecting them out of the oil-rich country. U.S. civil administrator Paul
Bremer had called Sadr an "outlaw", drawing counter-accusations from the Shiite
leader's aides. "If he means that Sayed Moqtada is
an outlaw according to Sharia (Islamic law) and the laws we know, then Bremer
knows nothing about these laws and it is he who violates these laws," said one
aid. "We reject all kinds of occupation
and hegemony. Everything is going to be changed," he added. Sadr said Tuesday, April 6, he ended his sit-in at a mosque in Kufa and traveled to
the holy city of An-Najaf to prevent "more bloodshed". 'Unjustified' In another related development, a
number of the IGC members voiced outrage over the use of "unjustified" force
against Iraqi civilians during the last four days.
Member Abdel-Karim Al-Mahmadawy
threatened to resign if the U.S. occupation forces did not pull out of areas
they are sealing off. "There should be an investigation
into force used by occupation forces against unarmed civilians," Mahmadawy
said. At least 52 Iraqi civilians,
including women and children, were killed and some 100 others injured overnight in
continued American bombardment of densely-populated areas in the besieged town
of Fallujah. The town had been sealed off at dawn Monday and U.S. troops were only
letting cars with Fallujah license plates enter or leave the town. Fallujah residents appealed to
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and the international community to
intervene and end the crippling U.S. blockade. The U.S. occupation commanders have vowed a painful response after Iraqis killed four
American security contractors in the city on Wednesday, March 31. An Iraqi mob afterwards dragged
their corpses through the streets and hanged two of them from a bridge in scenes
that showed the depth of anti-occupation sentiment in the conflictive
city. Occupation forces also
"deliberately used force and opened fire on peaceful demonstrators," said
another council member, Ragaa Al-Khazey. Shiite scholars have warned that U.S. troops of acting "irrationally" after
up to 52 Iraqi protesters were killed on Sunday, April 4, in the worst
confrontations between Iraq’s Shiite majority and the U.S.-led occupation troops
sine the start of the invasion one year ago. The protesters were denouncing the
crushing of two fellowmen by a U.S. tank on Saturday, April 3, the arrest of
Sadr’s top assistant Sheikh Mostafa Al-Yaqoubi and a ban on Al-Hawza newspaper,
Sadr’s mouthpiece. "We deem those fallen dead at the
hands of occupation forces martyrs," said Abdel-Aziz Al-Hakim, the leader of the
Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Hakim said he had earlier warned
against "closing papers and muzzling" people in the country. The offensive on Fallujah
coincided with deadly clashes between Shiites and U.S.-led occupation
troops across the country, which killed at least 100 people and injured some 400
others. 'Military Solution' Also Wednesday, the Islamic
scholars association – the highest religious authority in the country, lashed
out at the occupation forces. "They insist on enforcing a
military solution as if they are in facing an enemy in battleground not isolated
civilians," Harith Al-Dari, the council's secretary general, said in a press
conference. "Occupation forces want to wreck
havoc all over Iraq," Dari said. A member of the council said at
the opening of the conference that "Iraqis have waken up and realized
conspiracies contrived against them". "Ordinary people were killed,
hospitals were paralyzed and mosques demolished by those criminal atheists," he
said.
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