Moqtada al-Sadr: The influential Shia cleric behind Iraq protests

Moqtada al-Sadr has been a powerful figure in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The Shia Muslim cleric rose to prominence after the US-led invasion, when his fearsome Mehdi Army militia fought foreign troops and was blamed for running sectarian "death squads".

Over the past decade he reinvented himself as a nationalist and an anti-corruption campaigner, emerging as a political kingmaker.

But a stand-off between him and his Iran-backed rivals following inconclusive parliamentary elections in October 2021 left the country without a new government and triggered deadly unrest 10 months later.

Moqtada al-Sadr is the youngest son of the eminent Shia Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr - who was assassinated in 1999, reportedly by agents of Saddam Hussein's regime.

He was virtually unknown outside Iraq before the March 2003 invasion. But in the upheaval that followed, Mr Sadr emerged as the champion of disadvantaged and disenfranchised Shia, who did not feel represented by the quietist clerical establishment or previously exiled politicians.

He harnessed the charitable institutions founded by his father to distribute food, provide healthcare and take on many of the functions of local government in Baghdad's Shia suburbs.

Despite having few religious credentials, Mr Sadr followed in his father's footsteps by holding Friday prayers to address a wider audience - a practice that also undermined the traditional system of seniority in Iraqi Shiism. He used his sermons to express his opposition to the foreign occupation.

In June 2003, Mr Sadr established a militia - the Mehdi Army - which began challenging the US-led coalition.

At the end of March 2004, fierce clashes erupted between the Mehdi Army and coalition troops after a Sadrist newspaper was banned for inciting anti-US violence and an arrest warrant was issued for Mr Sadr in connection with the murder of the moderate Shia cleric Abdul Majid al-Khoei.

The fighting lasted for about six months and caused significant damage to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. His followers suffered heavy losses, but the confrontation cemented Mr Sadr's standing as a force to be reckoned with.

In 2005, he decided to engage in the political process and allied himself with other Shia parties for that year's two parliamentary elections.

After winning 32 seats in the second election, his movement was given control of several ministries in the new Shia-dominated government.

In 2006, a bomb attack on a revered Shia shrine by Sunni militants from al-Qaeda in Iraq sparked a surge in sectarian violence in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed.

The Mehdi Army provided protection for Shia civilians living in its strongholds. But it was also accused of operating "death squads" that targeted Sunni Arab civilians in revenge for jihadist attacks.

Mr Sadr reportedly fled to Iran in early 2007 after the US military sent thousands of extra troops to Iraq in an effort to stabilise the country. He also pulled out of the government over its refusal to set a timetable for a US withdrawal from Iraq.

The following year, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki ordered a major army operation in Basra to counter Shia militias. Several hundred Mehdi Army members were killed before Mr Sadr told them to stop fighting. He later ordered a halt to armed operations by the militia and declared that it would be transformed into a cultural and social organisation.

Mr Sadr returned to Iraq from self-imposed exile in early 2011, after his supporters made gains in the previous year's election and joined a new governing coalition headed by Mr Maliki.

Following the US military's withdrawal at the end of 2011 Mr Maliki became an increasingly divisive figure and sectarian violence increased. He was blamed for the endemic corruption that plagued Iraq and the divisive policies that alienated the minority Sunni Arab community, both of which contributed to the rise of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).

In 2014, IS militants defeated the Iraqi army and seized control of large swathes of northern and western Iraq. Mr Sadr was among those who forced Mr Maliki to resign over the fiasco. He also resurrected the Mehdi Army under a new name - the Peace Brigades - to help battle IS.

In 2016, Mr Sadr led an anti-corruption protest movement that supported new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's plan to tackle political patronage by appointing a cabinet of independent technocrats. His supporters twice stormed Baghdad's Green Zone, the heavily-fortified area that houses many government buildings and foreign embassies, hampering parliament's activities for weeks and causing several deaths.

There were further bloody protests in 2017, as the cleric's followers demanded an overhaul of the election commission.

Mr Sadr formed an unlikely alliance with six mostly secular groups for the 2018 polls. Saeroun (Marching Towards Reform), which pledged to fight corruption and reject foreign interference in Iraq, emerged as the surprise winner, securing 54 of the 329 seats in parliament.

After several months of deadlock, Mr Sadr agreed to nominate the veteran Shia Islamist politician Adel Abdul Mahdi as prime minister. In return, his supporters were appointed to top posts in ministries and state bodies.

In October 2019, thousands of young Iraqis who were angered by high unemployment, endemic corruption, dire public services and foreign interference took to the streets of Baghdad and predominantly Shia southern cites to demand the end of the political establishment. More than 550 protesters were shot dead by security forces and gunmen suspected of links to Iran-backed militias during five months of unrest.

Despite his supporters' roles in the government, Mr Sadr backed calls for Mr Abdul Mahdi's resignation. He then oversaw the appointment of Mustafa al-Kadhimi, a former intelligence chief seen as politically weak, as prime minister and reinforced his control over government ministries.

He also helped push through a new election law before early polls were held in October 2021.

Saeroun played the new electoral system effectively and ended up winning 73 seats. The Fatah (Conquest) alliance, which comprises the political wings of Iran-backed militias in the Popular Mobilisation Forces, meanwhile got only 17 seats, while Nouri Maliki's State of Law alliance won 33.

Mr Sadr attempted to exclude his Shia rivals' bloc, the Co-ordination Framework, from the new government by joining forces with Sunni Arab and Kurdish blocs in parliament. But months of deadlock followed, as he was unable to secure enough votes for his choices of president and prime minister.

In June, Mr Sadr told all of his MPs to resign as "a sacrifice from me for the country and the people to rid them of the unknown destiny". Their seats were allocated to the runners-up in their constituencies and the Co-ordination Framework became the biggest bloc.

Despite the move, Mr Sadr continued his efforts to influence the formation of the new government. His supporters held two sit-ins inside the parliament building in late July after he rejected the nomination of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for the premiership.

A month later they stormed the Green Zone once again after the cleric announced his "definitive retirement" from politics and the closure of all political functions of his movement. At least 30 were killed and hundreds more injured in clashes with security forces and Iran-backed militias.