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Iraq’s Sadr calls for Shia militias to disarm, be excluded from elections

December 12, 2017 at 3:50 pm

Influential Iraqi Shia Cleric, Moqtada Al-Sadr, demanded the country’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) hand over its weapons and the areas under its control to government forces.

In a televised speech aired yesterday, Al-Sadr called on the Iraqi government to stop using the PMF’s name in the upcoming elections – planned for May 2018 – and prevent its leaders from running in these elections.

He said that Sadr’s Peace Brigades, which are part of the PMF, are ready to hand over their weapons to the state provided that the government looks after the families of their martyrs and those who have been wounded.

Read:Iraqi Sadr Movement threatens to storm parliament if electoral commission term extended