Al-Sadr feels his life in danger, Shiite lawmaker says

Feb 19, 2007, 10:39 GMT

Baghdad - A prominent Shiite member of the Iraqi parliament said in press reports Monday that the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr 'feels his life is in danger.'

Al-Bayena al-Jadida newspaper quoted MP Haydar al-Obaidy and a prominent Dawa Islamic Party leader as saying, 'Al-Sadr has a feeling he might be chased by the Americans and that there is no problem for him leaving Iraq.'

'It's a justifiable feeling as the US side had conducted similar operations before.'

Al-Obaidy believes the US want to overthrow al-Sadr and 'if he doesn't appear, they will tell the public al-Sadr escaped because he was afraid.'

There had been conflicting claims over the whereabouts of al-Sadr. The US Cable News Network (CNN) had earlier reported that al-Sadr left Iraq for Iran a few weeks ago.

Then a Mahdi leader and former Shiite MP Fattah al-Sheikh denied that al-Sadr went to Iran, saying al-Sadr was in the Shiite city of Najaf.

Also an Iranian official denied al-Sadr being in Iran.

Samy al-Askari, an advisor to the Shiite Premier Nuri al-Maliki, said that al-Sadr was currently in Tehran but was soon due to return to Iraq.

But the Sadr movement denied that its leader was in the Iranian capital, with MP Saleh al-Okeili stating, 'al-Sadr is currently in Iraq.'

The denial came amid other claims by the movement that the reports about al-Sadr being in Tehran were an attempt by the US military to lure him from his hideout.

Al-Sadr leads the so-called Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia active in Baghdad and southern Iraq. The most militantly anti-US Shiite leader, al-Sadr is linked to a 30-seat bloc in the new Iraqi parliament.