Imam Sarkhi’s religious agent and 50 supporters arrested in Iraq

Al-Sarkhi's office stormed in Thi Qar Baghdad – Jaafar Nassrawi Iraqi security forces arrested, Friday, religious agent of Shiite Imam Mahmoud al-Hassani al-Sarkhi, Ali Saray, and fifty of the al-Sarkhi’s supporters in Thi Qar, south Iraq, after Saray accused security forces of allowing unknown militias to burn al-Sarkhi’s office in one of the neighbourhoods in the province, said Spokesman of the Shiite figure’s office Mahmoud Saadawi to ‘Arabstoday’.
Thi Qar police stated that a curfew was imposed following the arson of Sarkhi’s office in Rifaei neighbourhood, preventing individuals from approaching the site in order to “avoid escalation of the matter to armed clashes.” Police confirmed arresting a number of “suspects”, refusing to give further details.
Saray had released a press statement early on Friday, accusing security forces in the province of “giving the green light to dozens of people to burn [al-Sarkhi’s] office.” He stressed that a group of about 300 men gathered around the Shiite Imam’s office, threw stones at it, then set it on fire, encouraged by the security forces present in the area. Five employees in the office were injured, according to Saray’s statement.
Saray added that the office opening almost a week ago, noting that security detained 30 individuals who gathered to pray inside it 3 days following its opening, releasing them an hour after their arrest. He indicated that security forces “repeated the same action”, by arresting around 70 people who assembled for Friday prayer, only to release them after an hour.
Mahmoud al-Hassani al-Sarkhi is one of the most controversial Shiite religious figures in Iraq, who is known for his bad relations with Shiite religious references in Najaf province. He was one of the students of late Shiite cleric Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, father of Sadrist leader Muqtada al-Sadr. However, al-Sarkhi split from the Sadrist movement in 2003 and announced his own religious reference.
Al-Sarkhi declared himself as a Grand Ayatollah and a religious reference without prior permission from supreme religious references, as is the norm, drawing criticisms from majority of Shiite references.
He stopped appearing in public since 2004, following an attempt by the US forces to arrest him in Karbala, based on charges of him killing a number of US soldiers. In addition, limited clashes took place between his supporters and security forces in a number of southern provinces during the past few years.