Iraq's Sadr calls for followers to sign blood pact against occupiers
KUFA, Iraq (AFP) — Anti-US Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr on Friday called on his followers to "sign with their blood" a pledge to resist occupying forces in Iraq and other Muslim countries.
Sadr urged "believers to sign with their blood an oath of allegiance to the imam Mahdi," in a statement read during Friday prayers by Sheikh Assaad al-Nasseri in the Shiite holy city of Kufa, south of Baghdad.
The pact commits believers to "take part in resistance in all the Muslim countries and especially Iraq, militarily and ideologically, to the occupiers, colonisers and secular Western thought," the radical Shiite cleric said.
The pact must include a person's name, country and details of where the signing occurred, and to pledge allegiance, a person must cut their thumb and leave a bloody fingerprint on the paper.
"I think of all Muslims, especially in Iraq, as my brothers and I would never do anything to harm their blood, their goods or their dignity," the statement added.
Sadr's powerful Mahdi Army militia has frequently been accused of attacking Sunni Arabs, particularly in Baghdad, in a key factor that led to the creation of single-faith religious districts.
"My only enemies are the occupiers, the infidels, the "nawasseb" (radical anti-Shiite Sunnis), colonisers and invaders. I am not negotiating with them over the signing of a truce and will not sit at the same table as them as long as I live," the statement said.
The Sadr movement's chief spokesman Salah al-Obeidi said the campaign had already begun.
"It is about emphasising the worship of God rather than politics, the fact that the resistance does not have to end as long as there is an occupation, as well as all aspects of resistance to the occupier," he said.
"It is equally a call for unity for all Iraqis," he added.
Sadr, who US forces believe is in Iran, announced in June that he would replace the 60,000-strong Mahdi Army with a leaner and meaner fighting force to target the US-led occupation.
A ceasefire between Sadr and the US-led coalition forces drawn up a year ago has been a key factor in violence levels dropping to four-year lows.
Baghdad and Washington are still negotiating an agreement that would govern US troop levels and allow them to operate after a UN mandate expires at the end of this year.
US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agreed in principle last November to sign a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in Iraq by the end of July, but controversy has delayed the arrangement.
The proposed pact has drawn sharp criticism from Iraq's various political factions, especially from the deeply anti-American Sadr.
