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Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq at risk of fragmentation

A number of prominent leaders of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq withdrew from the council that has put the political future of the party at risk.
Ammar al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), gives a speech during a ceremony to commemorate his late uncle, cleric Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, in Baghdad, April 8, 2016. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad - RTSE68O
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BAGHDAD — Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) leader Sheikh Jalal al-Din al-Saghir withdrew from the ISCI on June 30, thus becoming the third leader to defect, following former Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and former Finance Minister Baqir al-Zubaidi, who left the ISCI this year for reasons related to controversy over the way the leadership was handling things.

Noteworthy is that these three leaders are the most prominent in the ISCI and helped establish it after it was founded in Iran by Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim in the 1980s. This show that things have been changing within the ISCI under its current leader Ammar al-Hakim, who initiated a new vision about a year ago to pump young blood into the ISCI.

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