BBC Just reported, the last search for Al-Hakim re-produced here.
Inna Lillah wa Inna Elyah Raji`oun
Struggles for power are already going on within ISCI and the Badr forces; they look set to intensify in the case of a succession crisis after Hakim.
Iraq Shia leader dies of cancer
breaking news
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of one of the most powerful Shia Muslim parties in Iraq, has died, his aides say.
Hakim had been suffering from cancer and had been receiving treatment in hospital in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Correspondents say the death of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) leader adds further uncertainty ahead of national elections next January.
He led the SIIC from 2003 when his brother was killed after his return to Iraq following the US-led invasion.
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http://www.historiae.org/INA.asp
Al-Jaafari, al-Maliki's predecessor, read a statement, noting that the ailing leader of the Supreme Council, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, was absent because he has been hospitalized in Iran.
"We wished that al-Hakim could be with us, but he is sick," al-Jaafari said. "We pray he will feel better soon but he will be with us spiritually," al-Jaafari said.
Al-Hakim, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2007, has wielded enormous influence since the 2003 U.S. invasion, maintaining close ties to both the Americans and his Iranian backers.
He has groomed his son, Ammar, as his successor. Ammar al-Hakim also missed the news conference because he had rushed to Iran as his father's health deteriorated, officials said.
By that time, ISCI – which had been punished particularly hard by voters in the January polls – had taken over the initiative, and within weeks several dozen key UIA members paid their visits to ISCI’s ailing leader Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim at a convalescent home in Tehran where details of the new alliance were discussed. Reportedly, Muqtada al-Sadr also made the journey from Qum to reconcile with Hakim, a long-time opponent, apparently seeing the symbolic change of name as a “Sadrist demand” that could justify their return to the UIA.
Agreement on the new alliance seems to have been arrived at in Tehran, and it is basically a case of Shiite Islamists with long-standing Iranian sympathies like Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim and Abd al-Karim al-Anizi reaching an understanding with other Shiite Islamists whose turn to Iran is of far more recent date (and probably is still disputed by many of their adherents in Iraq), as in the case of Muqtada al-Sadr. Already in May, full lists of the new alliance circulated; they included the entire old UIA, with unspecified “independent” and “tribal” Sunnis forming a beautifying addendum ( “Look we are a national party, we are not excluding our brothers from Western Iraq ”).
As for the reasons for the sudden haste in declaring the alliance – with the apparent use of a deadline to put pressure on a Maliki – we can only speculate. But at least two factors stand out. Firstly, in Tehran, Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim’s health once more seems to be deteriorating, with reports that he has been transferred to a more intensive form of hospital care. Secondly, from Qum, there are rumours that Muqtada al-Sadr may be about to return to Iraq, possibly even with enhanced scholarly credentials.
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By Waleed Ibrahim
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The leader of one of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite Muslim political groups and most important religious dynasties died on Wednesday, adding to political uncertainty in a violent run-up to an election next January.
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who headed the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), a major partner in the Shi'ite-led government, died while undergoing treatment for cancer in Iran, ISCI said.
"It is a painful event and a great tragedy," the ISCI-owned television station quoted Ammar al-Hakim, his son and likely successor as party leader, as saying.
ISCI officials said two funerals would be held, in Iran and in Iraq.
Born in 1950, Hakim lead ISCI since 2003 after his brother, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim, was killed by a car bomb.
ISCI is part of Iraq's ruling Shi'ite alliance, which includes Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party, but it said this week it would lead a new group to compete in January's polls without Maliki.
Hakim's "death at this sensitive stage that we are going through is considered a big loss," Maliki said in a statement.
Anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a fellow member of the new, mainly Shi'ite alliance said: "This is a promise from me to all his followers...to be brothers and partners in this life and the next as they ask for the liberation of Iraq."
State television displayed a black banner of mourning and passages from the Quran in Hakim's honor.
Political analyst Hazim al-Nuaimi said the loss of ISCI's chief peacemaker could lead to infighting.
ISCI must take care to line up behind the new leader, whoever he may be, in the five months before what are sure to be fiercely contested elections.
"Anyone who sees ISCI as vulnerable will try to take its place," said Mohammed Abdul Jabar, a former Shi'ite politician who now edits a weekly magazine.
Jalal al-Din al-Sagheer, who heads ISCI's parliament bloc, said Ammar al-Hakim would be interim party chief and that a permanent leader would be chosen soon by senior clerics.
DELICATE TIME
The leadership change at ISCI occurs at a turbulent moment in Iraq as the sectarian bloodshed unleashed by the 2003 U.S. invasion fades but bomb attacks pick up again.
Iraq regained some sovereignty when U.S. forces pulled out of urban centres in June, but a spate of bombings in recent weeks has undermined public confidence in local security forces.
The bombings, including two on August 19 that devastated the foreign and finance ministries and killed +100 people, also dealt a blow to Maliki's efforts before the January election to claim credit for a fall in overall violence.
The overtly religious ISCI became a major political player in majority Shi'ite Iraq after the U.S. invasion ousted Sunni Muslim dictator Saddam Hussein.
It was founded in neighboring Shi'ite Iran, where many ISCI leaders lived for years in exile during Saddam's rule. But despite their close ties to Tehran, an arch foe of Washington, ISCI leaders also enjoy U.S. support.
Iranian media said a ceremony would be held on Thursday outside Iraq's embassy in Tehran and Hakim's body would then be taken to the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf, in Iraq, for burial.
Although ISCI lost ground to Maliki's Dawa in provincial elections last January, the well-organized and well-funded party has major clout and will be a formidable competitor in January.
ISCI has several members in top ministerial posts and has influence in Iraq's security forces.
ISCI derives much of its support from the Hakim family name, revered among Shi'ites for its lineage of scholars and sacrifice in the face of assaults by Saddam and other violence.
Ammar al-Hakim appears to have been groomed for succession, but there are other key figures in the party.
In May, Hakim entrusted top ISCI member Humam Hamoudi to repair the ruling Shi'ite alliance. One of Iraq's two vice presidents, Adel Abdul-Mehdi, is also an important ISCI member with strong support within the party.
(Additional reporting by Suadad al-Salhy, Khalid al-Ansary and Aseel Kami in Baghdad, and by the Tehran bureau; Writing by Mohammed Abbas and Missy Ryan; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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FACTBOX: Key facts about Iraqi Shi'ite leader Hakim
(Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, one of the most influential religious and political figures in majority Shi'ite Iraq, died on Wednesday of cancer.
Following are some facts about Hakim:
* Hakim, born in 1950, was the leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI), a major Shi'ite political party in Iraq's Shi'ite-led government. He received a religious education in the Hawza, a pre-eminent seminary in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf.
An influential cleric and powerbroker, Hakim took over as head of the council after his elder brother, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim, died in a car bombing that killed 80 people after prayers at Najaf's Imam Ali mosque in August 2003.
* While living in exile in Iran in the 1980s and 90s, Hakim was a leader of the Badr group, the military wing of the ISCI, which fought on Iran's side in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
* The ISCI, formerly known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was founded in Iran during Hakim's years there when Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq.
* Despite its origins in Iran, an arch foe of the United States, the ISCI has had good ties with Washington. Hakim went to Washington to meet U.S. leaders and was a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
* Hakim, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with lung tumors and treated for lung cancer in Iran and the United States. In public appearances, he had appeared increasingly frail and unwell.
* Hakim's party this week announced a new, mainly Shi'ite political alliance to contest the next election, including Moqtada al-Sadr, another cleric who holds wide sway among Iraqi Shi'ites. Significantly, the alliance does not include Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, an increasingly assertive leader now seen as a potential rival rather than an ally.
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Aug 27, 4:39 AM EDT
Iranians mourn Iraqi Shiite leader al-Hakim
By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Thousands of mourners offered prayers and wept Thursday during a memorial for the Iraqi Shiite leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who spent nearly two decades in Iran during Saddam Hussein's rule before returning to his homeland to become a key political power broker.
The ceremony for al-Hakim, who died Wednesday in Tehran of lung cancer, was attended by many Iranian officials including Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in a sign of his deep ties to Iran.
Hundreds of Iraqi expatriates joined the procession, as al-Hakim's coffin was carried from the Iraqi Embassy to begin a trip for burial in the holy Shiite city of Najaf in Iraq. Many women wept and waved posters of al-Hakim.
Al-Hakim's political bloc, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, became the most influential Shiite political force following Saddam's collapse through its broad connections - able to work with American forces in Iraq while keeping its ties to Iran as the Islamic regime expanded its influence with Iraq's Shiite majority.
The Supreme Council suffered setbacks in provincial elections in January, but has sought to shore up its foundations with new alliances that include some Sunni groups that had been highly suspicious of al-Hakim's Iranian links.
In recent months, the 59-year-old al-Hakim had turned over most political duties to his son and political heir, Ammar.
According to al-Hakim's political party, his body will be flown from the Iranian city of Qom, a seat of Shiite learning about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Tehran, to Iraq where he will be buried in Najaf.
There was no official public mourning announced in Iran, but his deep connections to Iran were widely noted.
In Iraq, the top two U.S. officials in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno and Ambassador Christopher Hill, offered condolences in a joint statement Wednesday, praising al-Hakim for "contributing to the building of a new Iraq."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said "his death at this sensitive stage that we are undergoing represents a big loss to Iraq." Parliament elections in Iraq are scheduled for January.
Al-Hakim was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2007 after tests at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He chose to receive his chemotherapy treatment in Iran.
Al-Hakim's father, Grand Ayatollah Muhsin al-Hakim, was among the most influential Shiite scholars of his generation.
The family fled to Iran in 1980 following a crackdown by Saddam on the Shiite opposition. Al-Hakim and his brother, Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, returned to Iraq soon after Saddam's fall. A bombing on Aug. 29, 2003, in Najaf killed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and more than 80 others. Abdul-Aziz then stepped into the leadership of the Supreme Council.
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Iraqis mourn Shiite leader Hakim in Baghdad
by Salam Faraj Salam Faraj – 1 hr 47 mins ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraqis on Friday mourned the death of powerful Shiite politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, with wailing crowds touching his coffin as it was carried through Baghdad after an official homecoming ceremony.
Hakim, whose body arrived by plane from Iran, where he died in hospital of lung cancer two days ago, was hailed as "a devoted fighter" and "leader of the fight" against the tyrannical reign of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
The mourners were led by his son, Ammar, dressed in black robes and a black turban and who is seen likely to take over his father's duties as leader of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), Iraq's largest Shiite political party.
Hakim's body was carried down a plane's steps by six pallbearers dressed in ceremonial uniform for a service at Baghdad airport.
"He was a leader, a devoted fighter of Iraq," said Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who was first to address the ceremony.
"We are confident that the void left in his family and in the Supreme Council will be filled by the men of his family, such as (his son) Ammar al-Hakim."
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, also paid tribute to Hakim's role in opposing Saddam.
"He was a symbol and a leader of the fight against the dictator's regime," Maliki told a crowd of hundreds, comprised of SIIC members, tribal chiefs, US ambassador Christopher Hill and his British counterpart Christopher Prentice.
Hakim, 60, a former chain-smoker who died after a 28-month battle against cancer on Wednesday, was one of the principal leaders in exile of the opposition to Saddam, who mounted a devastating 1980-88 war against Iran.
In 1982, Hakim helped to establish an opposition movement in exile in Iran to battle Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime and only returned to Iraq following the US-led invasion of 2003.
The SIIC swept Shiite areas in the first provincial elections after the invasion, but in polls seven months ago the party suffered major losses.
The one hour ceremony at the airport was followed by Hakim's body being moved to Buratha mosque in the capital, where the prayer of the dead was read, signalling the start of three days of official mourning.
The coffin, draped in an Iraqi flag and carrying Hakim's black turban, said to have belonged to a descendant of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, was then carried through the streets of Khadimiyah, a Shiite stronghold. Hundreds of screaming followers, some of them crying, reached out to touch it as a mourner carrying a framed Hakim portrait led the procession.
Although Hakim was seen as the Iraqi politician with the closest ties to Iran he also managed to build a rapport with Tehran's arch-foe the United States and even met then president George W. Bush at the White House in 2006.
Hakim's body then left Baghdad and was headed south to the Shiite shrine city of Karbala. He will be buried in nearby Najaf on Saturday.
The bespectacled Shiite cleric had been in Tehran for treatment for more than four months and had also visited America in the past to consult lung cancer specialists.
A scion of one of the traditional leading families among Iraq's Shiite majority, Hakim took over the leadership of his party in August 2003 after his brother Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim was assassinated in Najaf.
Their father, Grand Ayatollah Mohsen al-Hakim, was one of Shiite Islam's top spiritual leaders between 1955 and 1970.
The family has had to contend not only with the rising influence among poorer Shiites of the radical movement of anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr but also with Maliki's increasing power.
Hakim's death came just days after the Iraqi premier confirmed he was breaking ranks with the SIIC alongside which he fought the last parliamentary elections in 2005. Maliki's faction will now go it alone in January's polls.
The decision leaves the SIIC facing an uphill struggle to retain its power at the political centre, contesting the elections with its remaining Shiite allies in a new National Iraqi Alliance.
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