Multinational forces and the Iraqi National Guard arrested Sheikh Mithal al-Hasnawi, Moqtada Sadr's representative in Karbala, along with his brother during a pre-dawn raid on 31 July 2004. A Sadr spokesman said troops entered the home at roughly 3 a.m. without explanation.
Hasnawi had served as Sadr's envoy in Karbala since early June, when fighting between the cleric's Mehdi Army militia and coalition forces left hundreds dead and heavily damaged the city center. Both he and spokesman Sheikh Raed al-Kadhemi had been sentenced to death in absentia in 1999, fled to Syria, and returned to Iraq only after Saddam Hussein's government fell.
A Sadr official in Najaf, Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani, called for Hasnawi's release along with that of other detained movement members and warned of a response if the demand went unheeded.
The arrest raised the prospect of fresh unrest. A comparable detention in March, combined with the forced closure of a movement newspaper, had triggered a two-month armed uprising across Baghdad and the Shia south.
Sadr had accepted a ceasefire in June but spurned conciliatory approaches from Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and announced he would boycott an upcoming national conference. His militia's weapons remained concealed rather than surrendered, and an arrest warrant against Sadr tied to the killing of a rival cleric continued to go unresolved.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in July 2004, in its own words.