NAJAF, July 26: Moqtada Sadr, a firebrand Shia religious leader, called on Saturday for the establishment of a “popular” council to govern Iraq in place of the “illegitimate” US-appointed Governing Council.

Moqtada Sadr called for a governing body comprising “all components of the Iraqi peopl”, during a press conference in Najaf, south of Baghdad.

“I would rather that people taking part in this ‘American’ council did not have a place in the popular council, at least to punish them for having participated in an illegitimate body,” Sadr said, referring to the 25-member US-appointed body responsible for overseeing the transition to an independent government.—AFP