Leaked Maliki recordings threaten to deepen political impasse in Iraq ​

Julian Bechocha

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A series of leaked audio recordings attributed to former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki insulting and criticizing influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has sparked vast outrage among Sadr loyalists and threatened to plunge the fragile country into a deeper political instability.

Iraqi journalist Ali Fadhil on Wednesday published the first secret audio message on Twitter depicting a man alleged to be Maliki insulting his longtime rival, Sadr, labeling him as a “murderer” and “coward.” Three episodes were posted after, the latest being on Saturday. 

In the first series of the leaked recording, Maliki made claims of a British project seeking to overthrow Shiite dominance in Iraq.

"The issue is that there is a British project aiming to put Muqtada in control of the Shiites and Iraq, then they would kill him and hand over Iraq to the Sunnis ... That project exists, but I am fighting it, and it is to be fought politically and militarily," Maliki said about his longtime rival, Sadr.

"Muqtada is a murderer, how many did he kill in Baghdad? The kidnappings, the car bombs, he is not a master, he is a coward, a traitor, an ignorant who knows nothing," the voice alleged to be of Maliki said. "I know the Sadrists, I have fought them in Basra, Karbala, and Baghdad, we had no weapons and the Iranians had given them advanced missiles and we still won." 

The recordings come amid a deep political crisis grasping Iraq, with the country's government yet to be formed a staggering nine months after early elections were held. The Coordination Framework, a pro-Iran Shiite parliamentary alliance that Maliki is a leader in, has been trying to pick a candidate for prime minister and elect a president before the end of this month.

However, the former prime minister was quick to hit back at the leaks and profoundly denied the authenticity of the audio recordings, calling them fake and saying they were made up to incite "chaos."

Sadr for his part urged his supporters to dismiss the recordings, and noted that they mean nothing to him. 

The Shiite cleric was not the only target of Maliki’s audacious words, as he also took a dig at the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi), whom he called “cowards.” The vast group of militias was formed in response to call-to-arms from Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to take the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) as it swept across northern Iraq in 2014.

Videos circulating on social media showed raging PMF loyalists setting fire to the headquarters of Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party in Baghdad's Sadr City.

Raed al-Saleh, head of Emtidad Movement's political office, said that "anyone who has heard the recordings knows the voice is Maliki's," and believes that the leaked recordings come from entities within the Coordination Framework, indicating that every political party in the framework's umbrella wants Iraq's next prime minister to be from within their party.

Relation between Maliki and Sadr

The standoff between Sadr and Maliki dates back to 2003 following the US invasion of Iraq and disbanded the Iraqi army. Militias were later formed to fight the Americans, falling into the two categories of Sunnis or Shiiite Muslims. The Shiites were organized by Sadr into an armed force called the Mahdi Army.

The army became popular in the fight against the Americans, but Maliki disarmed them after he became the prime minister in 2006.

Following an intense fight, Sadr asked his militia to lay down their arms. The army has committed several war crimes, which were recognized and condemned by the Shiite leader, where he stated that their sole aim was to fight US forces, not Iraqis.

Political crisis in Iraq

The Sadrists took the parliamentary majority in the 2021 Iraqi elections and formed a tripartite alliance later called the Save the Homeland Alliance alongside the KDP and the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance. Together, they controlled the majority of seats and were opposed by the Coordination Framework, who opposed Sadr's calls for a national majority government.

According to Maliki, Iraq will soon plunge into a “brutal civil war” should the country fail to end Sadr's political views, along with the views of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani and parliamentary speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, of which Sadr was in a major tripartite alliance with.

After several attempts to form a government, Sadr along with all of his MPs decided to withdraw from the parliament last month in a brazen move that sought to apply pressure on the Coordination Framework. 

Sadr is a titanic figure in Iraq and has a vast reservoir of Iraqi Shiite followers. On Friday, huge masses of the prominent cleric's supporters gathered in Baghdad following his call to unified Friday prayer in a grand display of unity and strength. His following is so large that he wields the power to mobilize massive protests at his call - a dangerous maneuver especially given Iraq's current political impasse. 

While Sadr himself was not present at the gathering, he had tasked a representative, local Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Jayashi to deliver a speech on his behalf. Reiterating Sistani's words of "what has been tried should not be retried," Sadr stressed that a government with the same politicians as before would lead to tragedies.

Massive protests in October 2019 caused by widespread dissatisfaction with Iraq's politicians and endemic corruption prompted the country to hold early elections two years later. Following Sadr's resignation in June, the road seemed paved for the Coordination Framework to form a government, but the recent leaks threaten to plunge the country into deeper, more impenetrable turmoil.