Sadr refuses to negotiate detainees with U.S. army

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Young Shiite cleric Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr on Monday said he rejects that his followers joined negotiations with U.S. forces to release detainees, considering this issue “harmful” for the reputation of the Iraqi resistance that he called “honest.” “No one has the right to negotiate with the occupier for the sake of detainees,” Sadr said in a written reply to a question addressed to him by a group of the Sadr movement’s detainees. “Negotiations’ result is the end of resistance,” al-Sadr explained in the release that was distributed by his office in Najaf and received by IraqiNews.com news agency. “All such acts are prohibited and do not represent me,” he added. “Detainees’ issue is not in their (U.S. forces) hand, but presumably in the hands of Iraqis (Iraqi officials) only, and they promised me to release them,” he noted. For his part, Sheikh Salah al-Obaidi, a prominent figure of the Sadr movement, said “Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr issued a release today that stresses his rejection to any negotiations with the U.S. side regarding detainees.” MH (S)/SR   1