Iraqi Shia Islamic scholar and politician (1939–2003)
Ayatollah al-Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Muhsin al-Hakim at-Tabataba'i (8 July 1939 – 29 August 2003; Arabic: السيد محمد باقر محسن الحكيم الطباطبائي), also known as Shaheed al-Mehraab, was a senior Iraqi Shia Islamic Scholar and the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).[1][2] Al-Hakim spent more than 20 years in exile in Iran and returned to Iraq on 12 May 2003 following the US-led invasion.[3] Al-Hakim was a contemporary of Ayatollah Khomeini, and The Guardian compared the two in terms of their times in exile and their support in their respective homelands.[3] After his return to Iraq, al-Hakim's life was in danger because of his work to encourage Shiite resistance to Saddam Hussein and from a rivalry with Muqtada al-Sadr, the son of the late Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who had himself been assassinated in Najaf in 1999.[3] Al-Hakim was assassinated in a bomb attack in Najaf in 2003 when aged 63 years old.[3] At least 75 others in the vicinity also died in the bombing.[3]
Biography
Early life
Al-Hakim was born in Najaf in 1939 into the Hakim Family of Shi'ite religious scholars.[1][2][3] He was the son of Muhsin al-Hakim[4] and Fawzieh Hassan Bazzi. Al-Hakim was the uncle of Muhammad Sayid al-Hakim.[5] Al-Hakims father was a senior cleric in Najaf.[3] He learned a traditional Shiite imam's training.[3] He was arrested and tortured for his beliefs by the Ba'athist government in 1972 and fled to Iran in 1980.[3] Many relatives of Al-Hakim were killed by the Baathist government.[3]
Political activities in Iraq
Al-Hakim was head of the Supreme Council of the Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a highly influential group within Iraq's Shia community and high ranking U.S. officials had met with the brother of Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim,[6] intent on securing a new ally against Saddam Hussein.[6] He co-founded the modern Islamic political movement in Iraq in the 1960s, along with Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, with whom he worked closely until the latter's death in 1980.[6] In an event, Mohammad Baqir Al-Sadr sent Al-Hakim to calm the people who were trapped by Saddam Hussein's government troops between Karbala and Najaf.[7] This incident prompted the Baathist government arrest Baqir Al-Hakim, he was subsequently imprisoned and tortured.[7] When Mohammad Baqir Al-Sadr was on house arrest remained in communication with Baqir Al-Hakim.[7]
Though not among the most hard-line of Islamists, Al-Hakim was seen as dangerous by the ruling Ba'ath regime, largely because of his agitation on behalf of Iraq's majority Shia population (the ruling regime was mostly Sunnis).[8]
However, his sentence was commuted and he was released in July 1979.[7] The subsequent eruption of war between Iraq and largely Shia Iran led to an ever-increasing distrust of Iraq's Shia population by the ruling Ba'ath party; combined with his previous arrests, Al-Hakim defected to Iran in 1980.[1]
SCIRI and Iran
Safely in Iran under the protection of the Iranian government, Al-Hakim became an open enemy of the Ba'athists, forming the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI),[4] a revolutionary group dedicated to overthrowing Saddam Hussein and installing clerical rule.[8]With Iranian military aid, SCIRI became an armed resistance group, periodically making cross-border attacks against Baathist and maintaining covert connections with resistance elements within the country.[9]
Badr Brigades
The Badr Brigades were the military wing of SCIRI until 2003.[7] Al-Hakim created the Badr Brigades which fought against Saddam Hussein.[7] The Badr Brigades contained to number about 10,000 equipped and trained soldiers.[9] On 11 February 1995, Badr corps attacked Iraqi government forces in Amarah.[7] During the War in Iraq (2013–17), Badr Brigades fought against ISIL under the Popular Mobilization Forces.[10]
Return to Iraq
Al-Hakim returned to Iraq on 12 May 2003 following the overthrow of Saddam's regime by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq after spending more than two decades of exile in neighboring Iran.[2] There he emerged as one of the most influential Iraqi leaders, with his longtime opposition to Saddam gaining him immense credibility, especially among the majority Shia population.[8]
Initially, he was very critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, but Al-Hakim gave the US credit for overthrowing Saddam's government first, so that SCIRI and other Shia opposition parties found time to re-establish themselves between Shia people.[8] Al-Hakim's brother, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, was appointed to the Iraq interim governing council and the two worked closely together.[8] By the time of his death, he remained distrustful, but publicly urged Iraqis to abandon violence, at least for the time being, and give the interim government a chance to earn their trust.[8] Although Al-Hakim publicly urged the abandonment of violence, his Badr Brigade was described by The Independent as "one of the main groups accused of carrying out sectarian killings".[11]
Assassination
Al-Hakim was killed on 29 August 2003, when a car bomb exploded as he left the Shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf.[12] The blast killed at least 84 others; some estimate that as many as 125 died in the bombing. Fifteen bodyguards of al-Hakim were among the people killed in the blast.[13]
Perpetrators
On 30 August 2003, Iraqi authorities arrested four people in connection with the bombing: two former members of the Ba'ath Party from Basra, and two non-Iraqi Arabs from the Salafi sect.[14]
According to U.S. and Iraqi officials, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was responsible for Hakim's assassination.[15][16] They claim that Abu Omar al-Kurdi, a top Zarqawi bombmaker who was captured in January 2005, confessed to carrying out this bombing.[15][16] They also cite Zarqawi's praising of the assassination in several audiotapes.[15][16] Muhammad Yassin Jarrad, the brother-in-law of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed that his father, Yassin, was the suicide bomber in the attack.[15][16]
Oras Mohammed Abdulaziz, an alleged Al-Qaeda militant, was hanged in Baghdad in July 2007 after being sentenced to death in October 2006 for his role in the assassination of al-Hakim.[17]
Funeral
Hundreds of thousands of people attended his funeral in Najaf and showed their hatred of the US military occupation on 2 September 2003.[18] They protested the US forces and demanded their withdrawal from Iraq.[19]
His grave was petrol-bombed by anti-government protesters during the 2019 Iraqi protests.[20]
