Cleric – COOPER GENERAL NEWS

Iraq’s influential Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr took a step on Tuesday to try to defuse an eruption of violence in the capital, Baghdad, calling on his followers to stand down after at least 24 people were killed in two days of clashes with security forces.

The violence, after three years of relative stability in Baghdad, began shortly after Mr. Sadr declared on Monday on Twitter that he was quitting politics for good. His supporters went out to protest and stormed the heavily protected Green Zone in Baghdad, then came under fire from government security forces who included members of Iran-backed militias.

Mr. Sadr, appearing at a news conference on Tuesday in Najaf, a southern city holy to Shiite Muslims worldwide, called on his supporters to withdraw within the hour from the Green Zone, where most of the fighting has been focused, and said he was sorry about what had happened.

“Regardless of who started the sedition yesterday,” he said, referring to the violent clashes, “I say that my head is down and I apologize to the Iraqi people.” Mr. Sadr added that anyone who did not comply with his order would be considered no longer loyal to him. He also called on supporters to dismantle the protest camps they had maintained for weeks, including around Parliament.

Witnesses and Iraqi security officials confirmed that shooting had stopped in the Green Zone and that Sadr militia members and other supporters were withdrawing, some carrying tents they had used in sit-ins.

On Monday, Iraqi officials said at least 12 people had been killed. But the fighting continued overnight and into Tuesday, when a Health Ministry official said at least 24 people had been killed and more than 190 injured since Mr. Sadr’s supporters entered the Green Zone, home to Iraqi government offices, the United Nations and diplomatic missions including the US Embassy.

Baghdad began Tuesday under a strict curfew for the second straight day. But after Mr. Sadr’s announcement, Iraqi security commanders said they were lifting the curfew in the capital and in all the other parts of Iraq where it was in place.

The clashes have set Iraq on edge, with some fearing the country could descend into another violent phase after two decades of frequent fighting. Following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, a sectarian civil war between Shiite Muslim and Sunni Muslim factions broke out, and was followed by a yearslong battle to drive out Islamic State after the terrorist group took over large parts of the country.

Although political turmoil and street protests are common in Iraq, this round of fighting laid bare the risk of an even more dangerous and unstable phase, fueled by political paralysis, divisions among the country’s Shiite majority and the breaching of state institutions.

In recent years, rivalries among Shiites have become the main driver of Iraqi political instability.

Iran-backed militias formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State have become a permanent part of Iraqi government security forces, with some more answerable to Iran than the Iraqi government. Mr. Sadr, in contrast, is seen as an Iraqi nationalist and a thorn in the side of Iran and its continuing influence in neighboring Iraq.

Elections last year in October were seen as a fresh start for the country — a response to massive protests against a corrupt and dysfunctional government. Instead they have led to a political deadlock.

Mr. Sadr comes from a revered Shiite family of clerics and commands millions of followers in Iraq. His bloc won the most seats of any other party in Parliament in the October election, and he had tried in vain for months to form a coalition government with other partners after the elections. Frustrated over the failure, he urged his followers into the streets instead to achieve their aims.

The clashes over the past day mainly pitted Iran-backed paramilitary units that are part of Iraqi government security forces against armed members of Mr. Sadr’s paramilitary organization, the so-called Peace Brigades, attacking each other’s positions and offices, according to Sajad Jiyad, an Iraq-based fellow with the Century Foundation.

A senior Iraqi security official said some of those killed on Monday had been shot by pro-Iran militia members who are part of Iraqi security forces as they approached the home of the former prime minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The official asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Neighboring Iran, which has exerted extensive efforts over the past several years to bring Shiite factions in Iraq closer together, reacted with alarm to the fighting, closing its borders with Iraq and telling Iranians it would work to bring them home safely.

A spokesman for the US National Security Council said Monday that the United States was monitoring clashes but there was no current indication that the embassy would need to be evacuated.

The United Nations mission in Iraq called the clashes a dangerous escalation.

Falih Hassan, Nermeen al-Mufti and Awadh al-Taie contributed reporting from Baghdad

BANGKOK – One of Indonesia’s most notorious terrorists, Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, was released from prison Friday after being sentenced to 15 years in prison for more than 10 years for helping set up a terrorist training camp.

Mr Bashir, 82, is the co-founder and former spiritual leader of a secret terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, which carried out a series of deadly attacks in the 2000s, including the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing that killed 202 people, many of them them Australian tourists.

The prison authorities said he had reduced his sentence by 55 months for good behavior, Islamic holidays and other cuts. His release was confirmed by his lawyer, Achmad Midan.

In Australia, relatives and friends of the Bali bombing victims expressed their disappointment at the release of Mr Bashir. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne called on Indonesia to closely monitor its activities.

“Our message in Jakarta has made clear our concern that such individuals will be prevented from inciting future attacks against innocent civilians,” Ms. Payne said this week.

Mr Bashir’s release comes as the government tries to fight Another radical Islamic group, the Islamic Defenders Front, whose ardent leader Rizieq Shihab has called for a “moral revolution”. Authorities arrested Mr Rizieq last month for violating coronavirus protocols and ordered his organization to disband.

The country’s counter-terrorism police arrested 23 members of Jemaah Islamiyah last month, including Aris Sumarsono, better known as Zulkarnaen, a leader who had been wanted for 18 years.

Despite Mr Bashir’s long history of terrorist activity, experts said they do not believe he poses a threat in prison given his age and isolation from the extremist movement.

“I don’t think his release will change anything in Indonesia,” said Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta Institute for Conflict Analysis, who has been following his activities for a long time. “Today’s terrorists can find everything they need for inspiration and guidance on their smartphones. You may respect him, but the world went on. “

Mr. Bashir, whose white hair and grin give him a friendly, grandfather-like appearance, had long tried by all means to establish a caliphate or an Islamic state in Southeast Asia.

In 1972 he co-founded an Islamic school in Central Java that served as a recruiting center for Jemaah Islamiyah.

Dictator Suharto’s crackdown on Islamists forced him to flee to Malaysia, where he lived for many years, and helped build the group into an impressive international network with cells in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

His close associates included his Indonesian clergyman, Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, who was believed to be Al Qaida’s main link with Jemaah Islamiyah and the mastermind of numerous bomb attacks. He has been detained in Guantánamo Bay Prison for 14 years.

After Suharto’s fall in 1998, the two Malaysian clergy returned to Indonesia, and Jemaah Islamiyah began its regional campaign of violence, including bombing churches, the Bali nightclub and the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.

The United States accused Mr. Bashir of being a key agent for al-Qaeda, but the Indonesian authorities had problems upholding the charges. He was acquitted of seven terrorist attacks over the Bali bombing but served 26 months on conspiracy and immigration charges.

Mr. Bashir praised the Bali bombers as “Islamic heroes” but declined any responsibility.

Mr. Bashir was arrested again in 2010 for helping to mobilize and fund a militant group that set up an armed training camp in Aceh province. At the time of his trial, his lawyer alleged that the clergyman only brought charges under pressure from Washington.

He was released 10 years and five months after his arrest.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who was seeking a second term in 2019, was on the verge of granting Mr Bashir an early release as a concession to conservative Muslims. But he withdrew that plan in the face of strong opposition at home and in Australia.

Mr. Bashir “is a household name but is no longer an influence,” said Alto Labetubun, an Indonesian terrorist analyst. “There is always the possibility that he is the patron of a cycle of violence or new acts of terrorism. But I think its era is over. “

Mr Bashir’s family members said they had not planned a big celebration to welcome him home, perhaps after learning a lesson from Mr Rizieq, who was arrested after having self-imposed gatherings of thousands of thousands upon his return Supporters against coronavirus protocols had organized exile in Saudi Arabia.