Iraq PM orders Sadr aide released by U.S. forces . . . after being held for over 2 years

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Wed Mar 21, 2007

By Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces have released a senior aide to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on the orders of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Maliki's office said on Wednesday.

Ahmed Shibani, who had been held for more than two years, is a senior aide to Sadr, a radical anti-American cleric who is also the leader of the Mehdi Army militia which Washington recently called the greatest threat to security in Iraq.

Shibani's release is likely to boost the standing of Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist who relies on Sadr for political support. The Sadrist movement holds a quarter of parliamentary seats in the ruling Shi'ite Alliance.

Sadr's political movement is an important part of the coalition government and holds several ministries.

"(Shibani) has been released this afternoon on the orders of Prime Minister Maliki," an official in the prime minister's office told Reuters.


report: http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKKAR15894220070321