Leading cleric Ayatollah Behbahani, for example, played an active role in the overthrow of the prime minister.
Although the political landscape remains fluid, most of the candidates can roughly be divided into the following three categories: Shia, such as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, the Islamic Supreme Council led by cleric Ammar al-Hakim and the Sadrist Movement led by radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.
Leading Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim has had his citizenship stripped and leading members of civil society are prevented from leaving the country.
Von Schwerin points out that while "Khomeini's book Velayat-e Faqih played practically no role" in discussions, there was a general acceptance in the assembly of his notion that a leading Shia cleric should lead the new Republic.
Leading Huthi cleric Al-Murtada bin Zayd al-Muhatwari, the imam of the Badr mosque, was among those killed, a medical source said.
The agreement, first reported in the New York Times, between Maliki's Dawa party and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council led by cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, "aims to give the government momentum, because we realize it suffers from slowness at various levels," said Hameed Muallah, a legislator with the Supreme Council.
Police in Islamabad have fired warning shots in the air and used tear gas against anti-corruption protesters on a march led by cleric Tahirul Qadri.
Though Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential clergyman, did not formally endorse the list, his bearded visage was emblazoned on its posters.Its two key components are two Islamist-inclined parties, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), led by a cleric, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, and the Dawa ("Call") party, led by a doctor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Dr. Faiz Khan, a Muslim cleric, led the Islamic marriage ceremony.
