Mohammad Baqir al Hakim

Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim was born in Najaf, Iraq, on July 8, 1939. He was a descendant of a prominent Shia religious family that traced its lineage to the exilarchs of Babylon. He studied Islamic sciences from his father and other scholars, and became a respected cleric and jurist. He also learned politics and activism from his uncle, Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, who was a leader of the Islamic Dawa Party. He joined the party and opposed the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein, who persecuted the Shia majority in Iraq. He was arrested and tortured several times by the regime, and fled to Iran in 1980. He co-founded the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a political and military organization that aimed to overthrow Saddam and establish an Islamic state in Iraq. He became the leader of the SCIRI in 1982, after the death of his uncle. He maintained close ties with Iran and received support from Ayatollah Khomeini. He also participated in the Iran-Iraq War and the 1991 Iraqi uprising. He spent more than 20 years in exile in Iran, and returned to Iraq on May 12, 2003, after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam. He was welcomed by thousands of supporters in Najaf, where he established his headquarters. He called for national unity and democracy, and denounced sectarian violence and foreign interference. He was seen as a moderate and influential figure among the Shia community and the Iraqi opposition. He was assassinated in a car bomb attack in Najaf on August 29, 2003, after delivering the Friday sermon at the Imam Ali Mosque. At least 75 other people were killed in the blast, which was blamed on al-Qaeda or Saddam loyalists. He was buried in Najaf, and his brother, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, succeeded him as the leader of the SCIRI. He is regarded as a martyr and a hero by many Iraqis, especially the Shia.