Iraq's looming general election has seen a rise in tension across the country, with an opposition activist attacked and hundreds of security officers suspected of links to Sadaam Hussein's Baathists stripped of their positions.
Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani called on his fellow clerics on Saturday to stay neutral in next month's general election after one launched a withering attack on close allies of the prime minister.
"I renew my appeal to people linked to the Marjaiya (the Shiite spiritual leadership) to maintain a strict neutrality towards political parties," Sistani said in a message to his representatives across Iraq released by his office in the shrine city of Najaf.
"We have heard some teachers and students in the Hawza (the leading Shiite seminaries in Najaf) have been attributing to His Eminence Ali Sistani sympathy for certain lists taking part in the election.
"I deny that categorically and I ask that my appeal be widely circulated."
Al-Sistani refuse to receive politicans
Sistani's office said that to underscore his call for neutrality the grand ayatollah had decided not to receive any politician during the campaign for the March 7 election.
The four-strong Marjaiya headed by Sistani backed the United Iraqi Alliance in the last parliamentary election in 2005.
But it had not previously endorsed any list for this year's election after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki defected with several allies to form a rival grouping, leaving a rump Shiite bloc now dubbed the National Iraqi Alliance (NIA).
However, on Thursday one of the other members of the Marjaiya, Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi, broke ranks, hitting out at a number of key allies of Maliki and accusing them of negligence and corruption.
"There are people in the executive authority who have betrayed the country, who have stolen public money or create sectarianism in the country like Education Minister Khudair al-Khuzai," Najafi said.
Najafi also slammed "corruption and negligence in most fields providing services to the population like water, electricity, agriculture, oil and ration cards."
Khuzai, acting Commerce Minister Safaldin al-Safi, who is responsible for the ration card system, and Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani are all standing for election as part of Maliki's State of Law bloc.
Electricity Minister Karim Wahid and Agriculture Minister Ali al-Bahadli are also seen as close to the premier.
NIA leaders rejoiced at their rivals' discomfort. "Ayatollah Najafi is looking after the interests of Iraqis and has clearly identified the sources of incompetence and corruption," said former deputy prime minister Ahmed Chalabi.
Asked if he thought Najafi's views reflected broader thinking among the top Shiite clergy, Chalabi said: "I don't know exactly how they work but I'm sure they talk to each other."
Opposition activist attacked
An opposition activist in Iraqi Kurdistan was injured by supporters of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Saturday in the regional capital Arbil, an opposition spokesman said, ahead of March 7 polls.
"Fifteen armed men travelling in two vehicles entered our area in the centre of the city at around 1:00 pm (1000 GMT)," said Jafaar Khayat, spokesman for the Goran (Change) party.
"They removed took all the posters of our candidates and replaced them with posters of President Talabani and Kosrat Rasul," who is a senior official in Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Khayat added that one of the party's guards was beaten with the butt of a rifle, and said that the people behind the attack left before police arrived at the scene.
'Baathist-linked'officers removed from jobs
Almost 600 Iraqi security officers have been removed from their positions for alleged links to Saddam Hussein's regime, the head of the committee responsible for the decision told AFP.
Ali al-Lami said on Saturday the officers banned came from "the highest ranks" after the Justice and Accountability Committee (JAC) had looked through the security ministries for officers with ties to Saddam's Baath party.
"We decided to eliminate about 150 officers from the current intelligence service into retirement, and about 150 officers from the ministry of defence," Lami said in an interview.
"Also, 190 officers from the ministry of interior have been sent to retirement."
He added that 84 others had been dismissed because of suspected links to the Fedayeen Saddam, the paramilitary force loyal to the now executed dictator.
The JAC was responsible for barring 511 candidates from standing in Iraq's parliamentary election on March 7. Twenty-eight of those candidates have since been reinstated, Lami said.
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