Abdul Majid al Khoei

Abdul-Majid al-Khoei was a Shia cleric and the son of grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei. He lived and studied under his father in Najaf until 1991. During the Shia uprising of 1991 he took part in the fighting against Saddam's Ba'ath Party but also acted as a force of moderation attempting to minimize revenge killings. When the uprising was crushed he was forced to leave Iraq. His father died a year later in 1992 at the age of 93, while still under house arrest in Iraq. In exile in London, he worked for the al-Khoei Foundation, a charitable foundation set up by his father in 1989. He became its head in 1994 when his brother, Mohammed Taqi, was killed whilst driving back to Najaf from a visit to Kerbala. He was a critic of Saddam Hussein's rule and a supporter of democracy and human rights in Iraq. He returned to Iraq in April 2003 after the US-led invasion, hoping to contribute to the rebuilding of the country and the reconciliation of its people. He was assassinated by a mob of angry Shia militants at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, along with another cleric, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim. His death was widely condemned by the international community and the Iraqi people. He was 40 years old.