Al-Sadr accused Al-Maliki of an assassination attempt against Al-Sadr, asked him to quit politics and surrender himself to the courts

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, accused the head of the Law coalition, Nuri al-Maliki, of threatening him with death and inciting Shiite-Shiite fighting, calling him to retire from politics and surrender himself to the judiciary.

This comes after leaked audio recordings attributed to al-Maliki, in which he appeared to attack al-Sadr sharply, vowed to thwart his project, and said that the next stage would be a "fighting phase" in Iraq.

The audio recordings were published by the American-based Iraqi journalist Ali Fadhel. Al-Maliki denied the authenticity of what was attributed to him and said that it was "fabricated" and aimed at falsification.

The recordings caused an uproar in Iraq, amid heated disagreements between al-Sadr and al-Maliki over the formation of the new Iraqi government, more than eight months after the elections.

Al-Sadr said in a statement, "in my killing, there is joy and honor for Israel, America, the terrorists and the corrupt. But it is all surprising that the threat comes from the Dawa Party, which is affiliated with the Al-Sadr family, and  specifically from is al-Maliki."

Al-Sadr called on the leaders of the Shiite coordination framework to "extinguish the strife" by issuing a "joint denunciation" about what was stated by al-Maliki in the recordings.

Al-Sadr said, referring to al-Maliki, "I advise him to declare seclusion, retire politics, resort to seek forgiveness or surrender himself with his corrupted collaborators who he protects to the judicial authorities."

Al-Maliki, a prominent leader in the coordination framework, is trying to run for the position of prime minister in the new government.

Al-Maliki stated that his relationship with the Sadrists is "good," and called earlier not to believe the audio recordings because they are "sedition" aimed at tearing classes and provoking unrest.

Al-Sadr said in this regard, "after these destructive ideas, he has no right to lead Iraq in any way. Rather, that he will cause more damage and destruction for Iraq and its people."

The recordings attributed to al-Maliki coincided with the united prayer called by al-Sadr, during which hundreds of thousands of his followers gathered in the streets of Baghdad last Friday.

Edited by NA