Professor Harith Al-Dhari, chairman of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq, died Thursday, the association announced.
Al-Dhari passed away in Istanbul at the age of 74 after a long battle with illness.
He was born in Abu Gharib district in Baghdad and was one of the most prominent Sunni imams who opposed both the U.S. occupation of Iraq in 2003 and the current government, especially under former prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki.