.Iraq's SCIRI party to change platform - officials
BAGHDAD, May 11 (Reuters) - Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite party will make key changes to its platform, party officials said on Friday, in a move that will increasingly align it with Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
The changes could distance the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) from neighbouring Shi'ite Iran, where the party was formed in the 1980s to oppose the late President Saddam Hussein.
Under the new platform, the party would get its guidance from the Shi'ite religious establishment as before, but more from Sistani, SCIRI officials said.
That would mark a shift from SCIRI's current platform, which says the group gets its guidance from the religious establishment of Welayat al Faqih, led by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.
Islamic experts say the authority of the Faqih, who "surpasses all others in knowledge" of Islamic law and justice -- known as a marja'a -- is not limited to his home country but to all Shi'ites who pledge obedience and believe in the Faqih.
The Faqih has the final word on matters related to Islam from political, social and religious issues.
Sistani, a reclusive but influential figure who lives in the Iraqi city of Najaf, is the spiritual leader of Iraq's majority Shi'ites. He rarely makes public statements himself but his utterances are closely monitored by his followers.
IRAQI FLAVOUR
A senior SCIRI official said the changes would give the party more of an Iraqi flavour.
"The change will be more as a step to the Iraqisation of the Islamic parties in Iraq," the official said.
In a statement, SCIRI said it had concluded a two-day meeting in Baghdad on Friday, where "significant decisions" were agreed on internal, regional and international issues.
Those decisions would be announced on Saturday, it said.
SCIRI officials told Reuters the Islamist party would change its name, removing the word "Revolution" because that was seen as a reference to fighting Saddam, who persecuted Iraq's Shi'ites for decades.
"Our name will change to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. Other things will change as well," said the SCIRI official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam in 2003, SCIRI has been a key player in Iraqi politics. It holds around a quarter of the seats in parliament in the ruling Shi'ite Alliance of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
SCIRI's leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, is a powerful cleric who has good relations with the United States.
Officials said SCIRI would introduce terms such as democracy and elections into its political platform to reflect what they called the changing situation in Iraq.
"There will be a change in two aspects -- the structure of the group and also in its political language, taking into consideration the political facts on the ground," another official who is at the conference said without elaborating.
"On political language, we will introduce terms more like democracy and elections. Those who follow us closely will notice that we have introduced new terms in our speeches for a while, now we are setting it out formally."
SCIRI members from across the world had joined the conference in Baghdad, which is usually held every four years to set general guidelines for the party.
Iraq is majority Shi'ite but has had a rocky past with Iran. The two countries fought a bloody war in the 1980s.
Relations have improved considerably since the ouster of Saddam, although Iraqi leaders often have to walk a delicate diplomatic line between the United States and Iran, which are at loggerheads over the Tehran's nuclear programme and the violence in Iraq.
Reuters
The changes could distance the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) from neighbouring Shi'ite Iran, where the party was formed in the 1980s to oppose the late President Saddam Hussein.
Under the new platform, the party would get its guidance from the Shi'ite religious establishment as before, but more from Sistani, SCIRI officials said.
That would mark a shift from SCIRI's current platform, which says the group gets its guidance from the religious establishment of Welayat al Faqih, led by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.
Islamic experts say the authority of the Faqih, who "surpasses all others in knowledge" of Islamic law and justice -- known as a marja'a -- is not limited to his home country but to all Shi'ites who pledge obedience and believe in the Faqih.
The Faqih has the final word on matters related to Islam from political, social and religious issues.
Sistani, a reclusive but influential figure who lives in the Iraqi city of Najaf, is the spiritual leader of Iraq's majority Shi'ites. He rarely makes public statements himself but his utterances are closely monitored by his followers.
IRAQI FLAVOUR
A senior SCIRI official said the changes would give the party more of an Iraqi flavour.
"The change will be more as a step to the Iraqisation of the Islamic parties in Iraq," the official said.
In a statement, SCIRI said it had concluded a two-day meeting in Baghdad on Friday, where "significant decisions" were agreed on internal, regional and international issues.
Those decisions would be announced on Saturday, it said.
SCIRI officials told Reuters the Islamist party would change its name, removing the word "Revolution" because that was seen as a reference to fighting Saddam, who persecuted Iraq's Shi'ites for decades.
"Our name will change to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. Other things will change as well," said the SCIRI official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam in 2003, SCIRI has been a key player in Iraqi politics. It holds around a quarter of the seats in parliament in the ruling Shi'ite Alliance of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
SCIRI's leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, is a powerful cleric who has good relations with the United States.
Officials said SCIRI would introduce terms such as democracy and elections into its political platform to reflect what they called the changing situation in Iraq.
"There will be a change in two aspects -- the structure of the group and also in its political language, taking into consideration the political facts on the ground," another official who is at the conference said without elaborating.
"On political language, we will introduce terms more like democracy and elections. Those who follow us closely will notice that we have introduced new terms in our speeches for a while, now we are setting it out formally."
SCIRI members from across the world had joined the conference in Baghdad, which is usually held every four years to set general guidelines for the party.
Iraq is majority Shi'ite but has had a rocky past with Iran. The two countries fought a bloody war in the 1980s.
Relations have improved considerably since the ouster of Saddam, although Iraqi leaders often have to walk a delicate diplomatic line between the United States and Iran, which are at loggerheads over the Tehran's nuclear programme and the violence in Iraq.
Reuters
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