al-Sadr warns supporters against “sedition” and “corrupt militias”

Shafaq News/ Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist movement, cautioned his supporters on Wednesday against "sedition" and any interaction with the "corrupt and insolent militias," following the assassination of an activist of the movement in Babil Governorate.

Saleh Muhammad al-Iraqi, a close associate of al-Sadr, said in a post on X platform, "corruption is once again stirring up sedition and you are sadly listening to them, and I pass on to you what al-Sadr said."

He quoted al-Sadr as saying that "anyone who joins the corrupt and the insolent militias in their violence, killing, and assassination, is one of them, and we reject them before God, His Messenger, and His Household."

He also said: "The faithful believers must shun bloodshed and sedition and must follow (the cave) or else he is ostracized and everyone must avoid him as they avoid the corrupt who seek sedition after they reconciled and followed the occupier and his tails. And whoever joins them from them or from you, they are the corrupt."

He added that "you must also not mimic their actions and their wicked plans that only reveal hatred and resentment, especially after God saved us from corruption and they remained in it blindly."

A police source said to Shafaq News Agency, that a rocket hit an office of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Babil Governorate on Wednesday morning, the unknown attackers fired an RBG7 rocket at the office but no one was hurt.

The attack followed the killing of Ayser al-Khafaji, a Sadrist activist, in Babil Governorate. He was kidnapped on Sunday, February 18, and his body was found the next day.

After his abduction, al-Salam Brigades (the Sadrist military wing) led by Muqtada al-Sadr mobilized and deployed in Babil areas.

On Monday, February 19, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior disclosed the murder of Ayser al-Khafaji, a Sadrist activist, "by a hit-and-run incident in Babil", and alerted that outlaws are trying to destabilize the situation.

The ministry stated that "a gang of outlaws ran over a citizen outside his home in Abi Gharq district in Hilla city and kidnapped him to an unknown place on Sunday. A specialized team from the Babil Police Command found and identified the body of the victim on the highway in Jibla area on Monday morning.