Sadr is wanted for the April 10, 2003 assassination of rival cleric Abdel Majid al-Khoei, who was stabbed to death in the central Shiite holy city of Najaf, along with two other people. He is also wanted for questioning over the deaths four months ago of three people, including a pregnant woman, who were to a hospital in Najaf in a taxi, the source said. In a third case, Sadr is accused of confiscating the “khoms”, or donations of worshippers to mosques and shrines in the south, which were worth a few hundred dollars. The coalition official said an arrest warrant was signed and delivered by an Iraqi judge in August. “The events of the past week have made it necessary to announce it. It has been announced now so that all the people of Iraq understand that Moqtada al-Sadr is not a hero, a great religious leader or a man of peace, but a criminal and a thief.”
