Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim

Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim ( _ar. سيد محمد باقر الحكيم)(b. 1939; d. August 29, 2003) was one of the foremost Twelver Shi'a Muslim leaders in Iraq until his assassination in a bombing in Najaf. He was the son of Grand Ayatollah Muhsin al-Hakim Tabatabai.

Early life

Al-Hakim co-founded the modern Islamic political movement in Iraq in the 1960s, along with Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir Al-Sadr, with whom he worked closely until the latter's death in 1980. Though not among the most hard-line of Islamists, Al-Hakim was seen as dangerous by the ruling Ba'ath regime, largely because of his agitation on behalf of Iraq's majority Shia population (the ruling regime was comprised mostly of Sunnis). This led to his arrest in 1972, for promoting Nikah Mut'ah, a legal form of temporary marital relationship in the Shia sect, but he was released shortly thereafter.

He was partially blamed for the uprising in Najaf that occurred in February 1977, and so was arrested again, and this time sentenced to life imprisonment. However, his sentence was commuted and he was released in July 1979. The subsequent eruption of war between Iraq and (largely Shia) Iran led to an ever-increasing distrust of Iraq's Shia population by the ruling Baath party; combined with his previous arrests, this convinced Al-Hakim that it was impossible to continue his Shia advocacy in Iraq, and in 1980 he fled to Iran.

Safely in Iran, Al-Hakim became an open enemy of the Baathists, forming the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a revolutionary group dedicated to overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime. In 1983, Hussein responded by arresting 125 members of Al-Hakim's family who had remained in Iraq, and executing 18 of them. This further embittered Al-Hakim towards the Baathists, and towards Hussein in particular. With Iranian aid, SCIRI became an armed resistance group, periodically making cross-border attacks on Iraqi facilities, maintaining covert connections with resistance elements within the country, and generally being a perennial thorn in Hussein's side.

The former Iraqi regiem feared Hakim because he worked closely with Irans' Ayatollahs. He created the Badar Brigade which fought with the Iranians during Iran_Iraq wars. The former Iraqi government acused the Hakim and his birgade of masscaring more than 1500 Iraqies P.O.W. under Iranin orders. He one time got very mad after a Syrian official talked badly about Iranian secterian activties in Syria and accused him of been a ba'athie fascist.

Return to Iraq

Al-Hakim returned to Iraq in May 2003 following the overthrow of Hussein's regime by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. There he emerged as one of the most influential Iraqi leaders, with his longtime opposition to Hussein gaining him immense credibility, especially among the majority Shia population.

Initially he was very critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, saying "we do not put confidence in the Americans, they have always acted against the interests of the Iraqi people" and urging Iraqis not to follow the US administration's dictates. However, he did give the US credit for overthrowing the Ba'athist government, and through the summer of 2003 indicated some willingness to work with the Americans in setting up a civilian government in Iraq. Al-Hakim's brother and fellow Muslim leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, was appointed to the Iraq interim governing council and the two worked closely together. By the time of his death, he remained distrustful, but urged Iraqis to abandon violence, at least for the time being, and give the interim government a chance to earn their trust.

Assassination

Al-Hakim was killed on August 29, 2003, when a massive car bomb exploded as he left the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf. The blast killed at least 84 others; some estimate that as many as 125 died in the bombing.

It is unclear who was behind the massive bomb attack that killed him. A spokesman for SCIRI in London suggested that supporters of Saddam Hussein may have been behind the attack; others suggested it may have been orchestrated by Sunnis not necessarily connected to Hussein who opposed the increasing Shia influence in the country; The Guardian newspaper has suggested it may have been carried out by supporters of radical cleric Ayatollah Moqtada al-Sadr who opposed the right of "exiles", like Hakim, to assume leadership of Iraqi Shiites. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/aug/30/guardianobituaries.iraq Obituary. Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim] ] A rival shia group may have been carried out, either as part of an internal power struggle or as a hard-line reaction to his increasingly conciliatory line towards the United States. Others believe USA to be involved in his killing due to Hakim's enormous power and influence among Iraqi Shi'as and his obstruction to the American plans.fact|date=August 2008

The fact that his assassination came in the midst of a pattern of violence against Shia clerics in Najaf in the weeks leading up to his death (Al-Hakim was the fourth to be assassinated) led some to conclude that the attack was most likely motivated by anti-Shia sentiment.Fact|date=July 2008 On the other hand, the violent history of rivalry between Shia factions and the unexplained circumstances of these attacks has led others to conclude that the attack was most likely carried out by supporters of a rival Shia leader, such as hardliner Muqtada al-Sadr.

On August 30, 2003, Iraqi authorities arrested four people in connection with the bombing: two former members of the Ba'ath Party from Basra, and two non-Iraqi Arabs from the Salafi sect (a Sunni sect).

According to U.S. and Iraqi officials, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was responsible for Hakim's assassination. They claim that Abu Omar al-Kurdi, a top Zarqawi bombmaker who was captured in January 2005, confessed to carrying out this bombing. They also cite Zarqawi's praising of the assassination in several audiotapes. Some sources even state that Zarqawi's father-in-law was the suicide bomber who detonated the bomb. [ [http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wozarq0208,0,4101449.story?coll=ny-worldnews-toputility Zarqawi kin reportedly bombed shrine in Iraq BY MOHAMAD BAZZI, 7 February 2005] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.al-hakim.com/ Website dedicated to al-Hakim (Arabic)]
* [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EI02Ak01.html Pepe Escobar: Ayatollah's killing - Winners and losers]
* [http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wozarq0208,0,4101449.story?coll=ny-nationworld-world-utility Zarqawi kin reportedly bombed shrine in Iraq] from Newsday
* [http://www.sciri.btinternet.co.uk/English/About_Us/Sayed/sayed.html Biography]