BASRA, Iraq, May 9: The chief of Iraq’s main Shia opposition group is to return home on Saturday after 23 years of exile in Iran to take up the struggle for an Islamic Iraq, he and aides said.

Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Assembly for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, will arrive in Basra in the morning and address the population on the “great day that we have all awaited for so long”, SAIRI official Seyyed Abdul Karim al-Jazairi said.

There had been rumours in Basra, which is Iraq’s main southern city and is under British military control, that the British had opposed Hakim’s return.

Asked about that, Jazairi said simply that there was an “agreement” between SAIRI and the British army.

The welcoming ceremonies are to be held at SAIRI offices recently set up in a former Basra theatre.

Afterwards, Hakim is expected to travel on to his birthplace of Najaf.

In Tehran on Friday, as Hakim prepared to return home, he made what was meant to be his final speech in exile during weekly prayers, telling the faithful that Iraq’s future belongs to Islam.

“There is no time now for me to talk to you in detail about the future of Iraq, but I tell you the future of Iraq belongs to Islam,” he said, committing himself to that struggle.

“Independence is our greatest priority ... Iraqis must be able to decide on their future, something they have not been able to do up to now,” he added.

The opposition chief had originally been set to return to Iraq on April 28, but his trip was cancelled without explanation.

Hakim’s brother and deputy, Abdul Aziz, has been in the country since April 16 and has represented the movement at meetings of the former Iraqi opposition working toward setting up an interim government in Iraq.

While SAIRI objects to the presence of US and British forces in Iraq, it has taken the pragmatic decision to participate in the process, which is being steered by Washington.

The group is a member of the so-called Council of Five former opposition groups that are spearheading the process. The council also includes the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Iraqi National Congress and the Iraqi National Accord.

But SAIRI’s involvement in the process has not been unconditional, and its participation was not always certain.

The group attended the April 29 meeting under the chairmanship of US civil administrator Jay Garner that agreed to hold a national congress within one month to start setting up an interim government.

But Mullah Abu Ahmed, SAIRI chief in Basra, said at the time that future participation depended on Washington respecting the Iraqi people’s wishes and on an agenda that was not contrary to their interests. —AFP