BAGHDAD, April 25: An Iraqi Shia religious leader on Friday spelled out the conditions for the future government and constitution in Iraq, saying the ruler should be a Muslim and the laws in line with Islam.

Sheikh Mohammed Yacubi said Iraq’s most influential Shia seminary in the holy city of Najaf, known as the Hawza, has agreed on those principles and will lobby for them in talks to form an interim government.

Sheikh Yacubi called for a demonstration in central Baghdad on Monday to support the Hawza as the legal representative of the Shia community, which makes up a clear majority in Iraq.

“What’s required is that the ruler should be a just Muslim, whether he is a member of the Hawza or not,” Yacubi told a crowd of more than 10,000 worshippers at Baghdad’s largest Shia mosque.

“And he should not take any decision that contradicts holy law.

“The formation of a national, free and independent interim government should be accelerated. It should be agreed upon by a conference in which all the religious and ethnic groups are represented,” he said.

He did not say when and where that conference will be held but said “the Hawza will dispatch a delegation made up of academics specialised in public administration” to voice its views.—AFP