Holy Haideri Shrine entrusted to Marjaiyah

By: Nabil Raza

LONDON, Britain: Moqtada Sadr’s militia handed the keys of the holy shrine of Commander of Faithful Imam Ali (peace be on him) in the holy city of Najaf to representatives of Ayatullah Sayyed Ali As-Sistani on Friday.

“The keys were handed to the office (in Najaf),” Ayatullah Sistani spokesman Sayyed Murtaza Al-Kashmiri told AFP in London where the cleric has been receiving medical treatment.

Sheikh Ahmed Ash-Shaibani, a spokesman for Sadr told AFP in Baghdad: “We went to Sistani's office this morning to agree on giving up the keys to the mausoleum. His office called Grand Ayatullah Ali As-Sistani in London, who agreed to take the keys.”

Meanwhile, Ayatullah Sistani has left the London hospital where he has been receiving treatment for a heart condition, his spokesman Fazil Bahr-ul-Oloum said.

“He is getting better, but he is still under the doctor's supervision, and they need to see him in the next few days,” the spokesman said. “His eminence would like to go immediately, but the doctors don't allow him because of his medical situation.”

In another development, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said on Friday Moqtada Sadr may have escaped the US-led military siege of the Imam Ali (peace be on him) Shrine in Najaf. “It is possible he might have escaped overnight,” Dr Sabah Kazim of the Ministry told CNN.

Earlier, outlawed Sadr militiamen said they have removed their arms from the holy shrine.

On Thursday and overnight, US warplanes bombed militia positions in Najaf in fighting that left 77 people dead and scores others wounded.

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