Sistani leaves Basra for Najaf, hundreds join convoy

AP Archive
AP Archive
59 هزار بار بازدید - 9 سال پیش - (26 Aug 2004) 1. Long
(26 Aug 2004)
1. Long shot of Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani leaving a building in Basra in a white jeep surrounded by armed man
2. Various shots of convoy of Sistani's followers cars and vans
3. Wide shot of road with cars, vans and buses
4. Wide shot of helicopter flying over the road
5. Various shots of Sistani's followers convoy
6. Sistani's white jeep (red flag on it) surrounded with police cars and other jeeps passing
7. Cars going under the bridge

STORYLINE:

Hoping to end weeks of fighting, Iraq's top Shiite cleric was headed to Najaf by road on Thursday from southern Iraq, armed with a new peace initiative and a call for Iraqis across the country to march on the holy city.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani returned home on Wednesday from a nearly three-week trip to London, where he had gone for medical treatment.

The grey-bearded cleric wields enormous influence among Shiite Iraqis, and his arrival has bolstered hopes the crisis can be resolved peacefully.

Al-Sistani is calling for Najaf and the neighbouring city of Kufa to be declared weapons-free cities, for all foreign forces to withdraw from Najaf and leave security to the police and for the Iraqi government to compensate those harmed by the fighting here, according al-Sistani aide Hamed al-Khafaf.

Travelling in an armoured car in a 30-vehicle convoy early on Thursday, al-Sistani left the southern city of Basra, where he had spent the night after arriving in Iraq.

The 360 kilometre (220 miles) journey from Basra to Najaf could take five hours, and it was not clear if al-Sistani would stop at other cities along the way.

Al-Sistani, 75, the nation's most respected Shiite cleric, left for London on August 6, one day after the clashes erupted.

He underwent an angioplasty to unblock a coronary artery August 13 and was recuperating, when his office suddenly announced on Wednesday morning he was returning to the country "to stop the bloodshed."

Al-Sistani had previously declined to get involved in resolving the violent conflicts roiling the nation, and it was unclear why he suddenly changed his mind.

In Basra, al-Sistani met with a delegation of government ministers and mediators and told them military operations in Najaf must end and the government must not raid the Imam Ali shrine, according to an Associated Press reporter at the meeting.

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