Muqtada al-Sadr

Muqtada al-Sadr (born 4 August 1974) is an Iraqi cleric, politician and former militia leader. A leading Shia Muslim figure, he inherited the leadership of the Sadrist Movement from his father, and founded the now-dissolved Mahdi Army militia in 2003 that resisted the American occupation of Iraq.

He also founded the Promised Day Brigade insurgent group after the dissolution of the Mahdi Army; In 2014, he founded the Peace Companies militia and serves as its current head. In 2018, he joined his Sadrist political party to the Saairun alliance, which won the highest number of seats in the 2018 and 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections.