IRAQ: SHI'ITE SPIRITUAL LEADER MOHAMMED BAQIR AL-HAKIM NEWS CONFERENCE ON REBUILDING OF IRAQ

Record ID: 648249

  • Title: IRAQ: SHI'ITE SPIRITUAL LEADER MOHAMMED BAQIR AL-HAKIM NEWS CONFERENCE ON REBUILDING OF IRAQ
  • Date: 22nd May 2003
  • Summary: (W4) NAJAF, IRAQ (MAY 12, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. MV AYATOLLAH MOHAMMED BAQIR AL-HAKIM ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE AT THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN IRAQ (SCIRI) HEADQUARTERS; MV MEMBERS OF MEDIA SEATED; MV CLERICS SEATED AT THE EDGE OF THE NEWS CONFERENCE (5 SHOTS) 0.38 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AYATOLLAH MOHAMMED BAQIR AL-HAKIM SAYING "My political role in Iraq will be the same as the one I played in exile, which is to build a country that truly represents the Iraqi people, a true representation, and at the same time I will try to organise and mobilise the Iraqi people in order to establish security, to rebuild Iraq, and return Iraq to normality as well as take it out of its international isolation." 1.23 4. MV MEDIA; WIDE OF CONFERENCE TABLE 1.32 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AYATOLLAH MOHAMMED BAQIR AL-HAKIM SAYING "We invite the establishment of an Islamic state because we are Muslims. However at the same time we have met with the Iraqi opposition in order to discuss the establishment of a democratic government which represents Islam, its religion, its values and Shi'ites. This is a system which is neither purely Islamic nor anti-Islamic. Anti-Islamic regimes do not respect religion, it only respects individuals. We do not believe that this is possible here, in an Islamic country, to establish a system without religion, because then there would be conflict within our nation." 2.18 6. SCU MEDIA; SCU POSTER (3 SHOTS) 2.38 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AYATOLLAH MOHAMMED BAQIR AL-HAKIM SAYING "The Shi'ites form a majority in Iraq and they want a political, religious, and cultural freedom. We must have a political role within the government but not at the expense of other parties. We must participate with other groups. To those who ask if it will be the same political system as in Iran, we do not believe in cloning, nor do we believe in cloning any other system." (HAKIM LAUGHS) 3.25 8. WIDE OF THE NEWS CONFERENCE BREAKING UP 3.35 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NAJAF, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA3HLBW8429I5QBDWH9Q836ZL09
  • Story Text: At a news conference in Najaf Shi'ite spiritual leader
    Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim has said he intends to help "build a
    country that truly represents the Iraqi people".

    The long-exiled Iraqi Shi'ite cleric spoke in Najaf on
    Tuesday (May 13,2003), a holy city in Iraq where clerics and former
    opposition groups are vying to gain a foothold after the fall
    of Saddam Hussein.

    On Monday (May 12) thousands of Shi'ites, Iraq's majority
    but long oppressed by Saddam, lined the streets to greet
    Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, who has led the Iran-based opposition
    Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) for
    more than two decades.

    SCIRI is also poised to play a political part as a member
    of a council including former opposition groups mapping out
    the blueprint for a future government.

    "My political role in Iraq will be the same as the one I
    played in exile, which is to build a country that truly
    represents the Iraqi people, a true representation, and at the
    same time I will try to organise and mobilise the Iraqi people
    in order to establish security, to rebuild Iraq, and return
    Iraq to normality as well as take it out of its international
    isolation," the 63-year-old said at a news conference at SCIRI
    headquarters.

    Hakim returned to Iraq on Saturday (May 10), crossing from
    Iran and making his way north to Najaf from the southern city
    of Basra.

    He visited the Imam Ali shrine, a walled compound of gold
    dome and tilework enclosing the tomb of the son-in-law of
    Islam's Prophet Mohammad. Hakim was accompanied by security
    men as he made his way through the massive crowd thronged
    outside.

    "We invite the establishment of an Islamic state because
    we are Muslims," he continued. "However at the same time we
    have met with the Iraqi opposition in order to discuss the
    establishment of a democratic government which represents
    Islam, its religion, its values and Shi'ites. This is a system
    which is neither purely Islamic nor anti-Islamic. Anti-Islamic
    regimes do not respect religion, it only respects individuals.

    We do not believe that this is possible here, in an Islamic
    country, to establish a system without religion, because then
    there would be conflict within our nation."
    "The Shi'ites form a majority in Iraq and they want a
    political, religious, and cultural freedom. We must have a
    political role within the government but not at the expense of
    other parties. We must participate with other groups. To those
    who ask if it will be the same political system as in Iran, we
    do not believe in cloning, nor do we believe in cloning any
    other system," Hakim told journalists as he spoke at length of
    the future of Iraq.

    SCIRI had initially boycotted U.S.-sponsored talks in Iraq
    in April. There are deep-running divisions between Iraq's
    radical and mainstream Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims, Kurds,
    monarchists and those who have lived in exile for years.

    Hakim was jailed and tortured for his opposition to the
    secular Baghdad government in 1972, and jailed again later.

    Over the past three decades five of his brothers and more
    than a dozen other relatives have been killed fighting
    Saddam's government.

    Hakim fled in 1980 to Iran, where Ayatollah Ruhollah
    Khomeini was setting up a Shi'ite Islamic state.


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