Representative of Iraq's Top Religious Authority Denies Offering Position of PMF Head to Amiri

A PMF member holds up a victory sign during an operation against ISISI militants in Tal Afar, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)

Representative of Iraq’s Supreme Religious Authority Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalai denied that he had offered leader of the Fatah alliance, Hadi al-Amiri, the position of head of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

Karbalai also denied that he had requested a meeting with Amiri, saying the Supreme Religious Authority does not ask for a meeting with any official.

Amiri himself had asked for a meeting, he clarified in a statement in wake of his talks with the official.

Moreover, the statement stressed that the representative did not ask Amiri to head the PMF because it does not fall within his legal jurisdiction.

The meeting, it added, focused on the Religious Authority's vision on the need to implement the PMF's law and activating its structure in its entirety, while clarifying the foundations, such as religious fatwas, on which the group was initially formed.

Karbalai’s office stressed the need to "evaluate" some of the PMF's "incorrect paths". The PMF must also take its decision in consultation with the forces of the holy shrines.

The PMF remains without a leader since its deputy head, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was killed in the same US drone strike that killed Iranian Quds Force commader Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad International Airport in January.

Karbalai was responding to an earlier statement by Fatah MP Hamid al-Moussawi, who discussed Amiri’s visit.

Moussawi told a local channel that the meeting came at Karbalai's request. He announced that the representative offered Amiri the position of PMF leader, but he refused.

Amiri said that if the Authority wanted to dissolve the PMF, it will be done, according to Moussawi.

In April, the PMF’s brigades of holy shrines broke away from the Forces’ command. They now fall under the “command and management” of prime minister in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Observers viewed this as the strongest sign of various loyalties within the PMF, with some loyal to Iraq's highest Religious Authority, Ali al-Sistani, and others aligned with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Previous reports suggested that one of the PMF’s top officials, Abdel Aziz al-Mohammadi, dubbed Abu Fadak, will be named as leader. Some claimed that this prompted the holy shrines brigades to split from the PMF.

A few days ago, reports said that new Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, wants to assign the PMF leadership to top officers of the Iraqi army, but he has yet to take any decision over the issue.