Sadr withdrawal from Iraqi parliament challenges Shiite rivals
Populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr withdrew his party members from Iraq's Council of Representatives, introducing a new level of uncertainty into Iraqi politics.
![Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a speech in the central Iraqi city of Najaf on June 3, 2022.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/2022-06/GettyImages-1241080413.jpeg?h=c97ac499&itok=p3TBxW54)
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on June 12 ordered his members of parliament to collectively hand in their resignation to parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi.
Head of the parliamentary Sadrist bloc, Hassan al-Adhari, was seen later in a short video handing his party's resignations to Halbusi, with the latter signing them all at once.