HOLY CITY OF MAKKAH, Saudi Arabia: Al-Marjay Ad-Dini Ayatullah Sayyed Ali Al-Husseini As-Sistani has supported the final communiqué of Makkah Conference.

Though Ayatullah As-Sistani was not represented at the gathering, but sent a letter of support that was read to participants, in which he expressed the view that "there has not been a sectarian conflict between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq but a political crisis."

At the meeting, organized by the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the 29 Iraqi Shia and Sunni clerics signed a document stipulating that "spilling Muslim blood is forbidden".

The 10-point text draws on verses of the Qoran and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (p).

It calls for the safeguarding of holy places, even that of non-Muslims’, defending the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq and the release of "all innocent detainees", according to the text.

The text stressed the need for Muslims - Sunnis and Shiites - to "join ranks with a view to the independence of Iraq and its territorial integrity".

The text includes calls to safeguard the "goods, blood and honor of the Muslim", to free innocent people who have been abducted, and "allow displaced people to return to their place of origin".

OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of Turkey attended the meeting. The signing ceremony was carried live by Iraqi TV stations.