• Thousands of supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr gathered in Baghdad for a prayer service.
• They were trying to get the talks about making a new government move faster.
• The Friday prayers were held allegedly to honour Sadr’s father, who was killed by Saddam in 1999.

BAGHDAD: Thousands of supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr, an Iraqi Shiite leader, gathered in Baghdad on Friday for a prayer service. They were trying to get the talks about making a new government move faster.

It was unclear if the influential cleric and politician would deliver the speech or even if he planned to attend the midday prayer in Sadr City, which was scheduled to take place on Al-Falah Avenue.

After the US war in 2003 that got rid of Saddam Hussein as a dictator, this part of the capital was renamed after Mohammad Sadr, Moqtada’s father and a cleric who was killed by Saddam in 1999.

The Friday prayers were held allegedly to honour Sadr’s father.

As per a journalist, many thousand people gathered on Al-Falah Avenue as a big security presence observed.

Participants, prayer mats in hand, waved Iraqi flags.

“We obey Moqtada Sadr just as we obey God and his prophets,” Sheikh Kadhim Hafez Mohammed Al-Tai said.

In addition to his religious authority he is considered a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, or “sayyid” — Sadr wields considerable political influence in Iraq.

In the October 2021 election, his parliamentary coalition won 73 seats, making it the largest legislative fraction.

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Since the election, though, talks about making a new government have stalled, and the country is still in a lot of political turmoil.

Shiites, Iraq’s largest demographic, can’t agree on a new prime minister.

Sadr initially backed a “majority government” that would have put his pro-Iran opponents in opposition.

The former militia leader then forced his deputies to resign in June.

This was a move to pressure rival factions to establish a new administration faster.

After a month, the procedure hasn’t moved forward.

The leaders of the Coordination Framework can’t agree on a new head of government, and even though oil prices are high, the oil-rich country is still in a lot of social and economic trouble.

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