Muqtada al-Sadr bans use of family name in campaigns

Shafaq News/ On Saturday, influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr prohibited political candidates from referencing his family name in election campaigns.

“Invoking the name al-Sadr, particularly the two martyrs, is strictly prohibited, whether explicit, implied, or suggestive,” he stated.

The two martyrs are his father, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr—assassinated in 1999 for opposing Saddam Hussein—and his cousin, philosopher and cleric Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, executed in 1980. Both figures are revered across Iraq’s Shiite population for their resistance to dictatorship.

Al-Sadr condemned political opportunism, accusing candidates of remembering the public only during election cycles.

He also addressed vote-buying, urging Iraq’s economically disadvantaged citizens to accept material offers from candidates, including those he labeled corrupt while rejecting them at the ballot box. “These are your funds, not theirs.”

Al-Sadr, who leads the Patriotic Shiite Movement (PSM), won 73 seats in Iraq’s 2021 parliamentary elections, securing the largest bloc in the legislature at the time. However, in 2022, he abruptly withdrew from the political process. Observers suggest that any potential return by al-Sadr could upend current political calculations and even delay the upcoming vote.

“Our silence is speech,” he added. “It should not be mistaken for approval of their corruption.”