Sadr backs anti-corruption campaign, calls for Friday rally in support

BAGHDAD — Shiite National Movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr endorsed Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s anti-corruption campaign on Monday, calling it a “heroic reform campaign” and urging supporters to hold a peaceful rally after Friday prayers in support of the government’s actions.

In a statement posted on X, Sadr praised the recent wave of arrests of officials in corruption cases and said he hoped the campaign would continue.

“What Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has undertaken in the arrests against the corrupt is a heroic reform campaign that we hope will continue,” Sadr said. He added that it had “restored hope to our hearts and the hearts of the Iraqi people after the corrupt had dominated its destiny.”

Sadr also praised the judiciary and security forces, “especially the Counter Terrorism Service,” for their role in the campaign.

He urged Friday prayer leaders to organize a peaceful demonstration after this week’s prayers, during the Islamic month of Muharram, and said participants should raise only “the banners of Imam Hussein … and Iraqi flags, and no others.”

Sadr is an influential Shia cleric who heads the Shiite National Movement, also known as the Sadrist Movement. Although he formally withdrew from parliamentary politics in 2022 after his bloc resigned from parliament, he retains a large grassroots following, particularly in Baghdad’s Sadr City and across southern Iraq. Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, is when Shiite Muslims commemorate Imam Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was killed at the Battle of Karbala in 680.

The statement followed a sweeping operation earlier Sunday that Iraqi authorities said led to the arrest of dozens of current and former officials, in what the government has called the first phase of a broader anti-corruption campaign. State media said the arrests were based on confessions by detained Deputy Oil Minister Adnan al-Jumaili, and that the 15 names released so far were the first group in a wider investigation it said involved 47 detainees whose identities would be released later.

Jumaili, who served as deputy oil minister for extraction affairs, was detained earlier this month over alleged financial irregularities in the oil sector. Authorities have disclosed few details about the investigation beyond confirming he was in custody, but state media has repeatedly linked Sunday’s arrests to confessions made during his interrogation.

Sadr’s statement added to a series of endorsements from across Iraq’s political spectrum since the campaign began. Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who heads the State of Law Coalition, called it a long-awaited step and urged the government to press on, while Sunni leader Khamis al-Khanjar of the Sovereignty Alliance also voiced support.

The Azm Alliance, whose leader Muthanna al-Samarrai was among those named, urged respect for judicial procedures and warned against prejudging the investigations.