Word: cleric
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...ARRESTED. ABU HAMZA AL-MASRI, 47, Muslim cleric accused by the U.S. of helping al-Qaeda and the Taliban; by British police acting on a U.S. extradition order; in London. The British citizen is wanted by the U.S. on 11 terrorism-related charges in connection with a 1998 hostage taking in Yemen, an alleged attempt to set up a terrorist-training camp in Oregon and other incidents. He could face the death penalty if extradited, but British officials have said that they will not surrender Abu Hamza unless the U.S. promises to waive capital punishment...
Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqtada!" The chants of the faithful drown out the gunfire around the mosque in Kufa. Thousands have gathered to hear Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraq's best-known rebel cleric, lead Friday prayers. A fire fight is raging for control of a nearby bridge, between members of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and U.S. forces. There's another battle up the road in al-Sadr's hometown, Najaf. As the mosque broadcasts reports of glorious victories over U.S. tanks, the worshippers seem unmoved by the fighting. "The U.S. troops do this every Friday," says one of the faithful, Sheik...
...Moqtada Sadr's militia would be turned into a political party and some of its fighters would be incorporated into the Iraqi security forces. Although the U.S. had previously demanded that Sadr be taken into custody to stand trial over his alleged involvement in the killing of a rival cleric last year, the reported deal would delay any arrest and prosecution until after June 30, when it would be up to a new Iraqi authority to pursue...
...Baathists and the Sadrists competing at the ballot box than taking pot shots at it. And there's good reason to believe that can be achieved in the case of Sadr, at least, who has long embraced Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's demand for elections. The firebrand cleric has perfected the art of campaigning for Shiite popular support by attacking the Americans - the U.S. was late in recognizing that far from isolating him, American military action against Sadr was actually boosting his popularity. Current opinion surveys in Iraq find Sadr ranking second among Iraqi politicians in popular support with upward...
...rivals, the SCIRI and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, have called with increasingly insistence for Sadr's men leave the shrine cities. But they're also calling on the U.S. to do the same, and have shied away from armed confrontations with the Sadrists. The rebel cleric clearly believes he can make the U.S. strategy work to his advantage because military actions in Karbala and Najaf deepens the hostility of ordinary Shiites towards the Coalition, potentially undermining the standing of Sistani and those Shiites working in the Governing Council, while burnishing Moqtada's own appeal. Sadr is clearly using his fight...