Former Sadrist lawmakers meet as al-Sadr keeps political door closed

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Former lawmakers from Iraq’s Sadr bloc held a consultative meeting in Baghdad on Friday at the invitation of Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Shiite Patriotic Movement, a source in the movement told Shafaq News.

The meeting was attended and overseen by Hassan al-Adhari, former head of the Sadr bloc, who conveyed a set of instructions from al-Sadr to the former lawmakers, the source said.

The guidance included preparations to mark the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, as well as praise for the former lawmakers’ commitment to avoiding media disputes in recent months.

According to the source, the meeting also addressed developments in Iraq and the wider region in some detail.

Efforts by some factions within the Coordination Framework, a coalition of mainly Shiite political parties, to establish contact with al-Sadr and persuade him to return to political life have been “numerous and ongoing,” involving various political groups. “They have not produced any results,” the source said, noting that “the doors remain closed” and that the decision rests exclusively with al-Sadr.

A separate source previously told Shafaq News that a senior Coordination Framework figure had launched a new effort to reach al-Sadr at al-Hanana, his residence in Najaf, in an attempt to persuade him to return to politics.