Sistani In Secure Location Annan

Juan Cole 02/11/2004

Sistani in a Secure Location; Annan worries about Partition of Iraq

az-Zaman and Deutsche Press Agentur report that UN Secretary General gave a speech Tuesday expressing concern about ethnic tensions tearing Iraq apart.

Murtada Kashmiri, a spokesman for Sistani, announced to az-Zaman that the UN team in Iraq to advise on elections will meet this week with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Najaf.

The Coalition Provisional Authority announced that Sistani has been moved to a secure location to protect his life and to forestall any assassination attempt on him, and that trusted, sincere Iraqi forces are guarding him. No Americans are involved as his guards, the CPA stressed.

Kashmiri, however, denied that Sistani had been transported to a new location.

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page