Who is al-Sadr?

Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is a key political ally of Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is a key political ally of Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Washington says the Mehdi Army, a Shi’ite militia that claims loyalty to Sadr, is the biggest threat to Iraq’s security. The Mehdi Army is blamed for many of the sectarian killings in Iraq.

Sadr, whose stronghold is Baghdad’s Sadr City, led two uprisings against US forces in 2004.

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Sadr’s political group was instrumental in appointing Maliki, a fellow Shi’ite from the Dawa party, as prime minister in May. Sadr’s group has a quarter of the seats in the Shi’ite Alliance, parliament’s largest bloc, and controls several ministries.

Sadr, a fiery nationalist who has called for American troops to leave Iraq, derives much of his authority from his family. His father, highly respected Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, was murdered in 1999 for defying Saddam Hussein.

Sadr, in his early 30s, attracts a zealous following among the young, poor and dispossessed. His rising power has unsettled Shi’ite religious elders in the holy city of Najaf, many of whom see the junior cleric as a dangerous upstart.