Populist Iraqi cleric announces suspension of his movement

BAGHDAD (AP) — Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr says he will suspend the movement he leads for one year, citing “corruption” among some of his followers. He made the announcement Friday. A group within the Sadrists, dubbing itself the “Owners of the Cause,” believes that al-Sadr is Imam Mahdi, a Shiite religious leader said to have vanished more than 1,000 years ago, and who is expected to return as the leader of an army of the faithful. On Friday, Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council announced that an investigative court had issued a decision to arrest 65 alleged members of the groupm which it described as a disruptive “gang.”