AFP – Powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Tuesday slammed Iraq’s government as corrupt and its leader as a “tyrant” while calling on citizens to vote, days after announcing his exit from politics.
The televised speech seemed aimed at establishing the cleric, who leapt to prominence with his fierce criticism of the 2003 US-led invasion, as a figure above the everyday Iraqi political fray.
“Politics became a door for injustice and carelessness, and the abuse and humiliation of the rule of a dictator and tyrant who controls the funds, so he loots them… and the cities, so he attacks them, and the sects, so he divides them,” Sadr said.
He was apparently referring to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whom he has repeatedly criticized in the past.
Sadr called on Iraqis to vote in parliamentary elections that are now a little more than two months away.
Iraqis “must participate in these elections in a major way, so that the government does not fall into the hands of the dishonest,” Sadr said.
He also reaffirmed his weekend announcement that he was separating himself from his powerful political movement, which holds dozens of parliamentary seats and six ministerial posts.
