KARBALA:
Thousands of Iraqis chanted anti-corruption slogans during the Shiite Arbaeen
pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbala yesterday, responding to firebrand
cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr's call to keep up anti-government protests. Amid the
throngs of black-clad pilgrims mourning the seventh-century death of Imam
Hussein, Sadr supporters dressed in white demanded "No, to
corruption!" and "Yes, to reform!".

Waving Iraqi
flags, they chanted "Baghdad free, corrupt ones out!" Sadr, whose
list emerged as the largest bloc in parliamentary elections last year, helped
Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi to form his government. But on Tuesday he
called on Twitter for his supporters to march in shrouds. Iraq -- the second-largest
OPEC oil producer -- is "a rich country where the people are poor,"
Khedheir Naim told AFP.

The grey-bearded
man came from the southern oil city of Basra to join the world's largest Shiite
pilgrimage, which culminated yesterday. He denounced corrupt leaders, who
according to official figures pocketed 410 billion euros over the past 16
years. "Unfortunately, tyrants and criminals live handsomely at the
expense of the people," Naim said. Denouncing corruption has been a
primary theme of the protest movement shaking Iraq, alongside demands for jobs
and functional services.

In a single week
of protests at the start of the month, 110 people were killed and 6,000
injured, according to official figures. Calls have been made for fresh marches
on October 25, to mark the anniversary of the government that is the focus of
public anger. The annual Arbaeen pilgrimage sees millions of worshippers,
mostly Iraqis and Iranians, converge by foot on Karbala, 100 kilometers south
of Baghdad.

Arbaeen marks the
end of the 40-day mourning period for the killing of Imam Hussein, grandson of
the Prophet Mohammed, by the forces of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD. Placards
with anti-United States and anti-Israel messages are often seen in the crowd,
though anti-corruption slogans are rare. Despite warnings from Iranian
authorities for pilgrims to delay travelling, 3.5 million people -- mostly
Iranians -- officially entered Iraq by land borders by Friday.

Shiite Muslims
from the Gulf also attended, like Saudi Talib Al-Ghadir. "It's necessary
to make the pilgrimage regardless of the situation in the country," he
said.  "We haven't seen anything out
of the ordinary, even if people from the Gulf came at the last minute because
of the protests." Last year, more than 14 million worshippers visited the
gold domed mausoleum where Imam Hussein is buried.

Iraqi blogger
returns

In other news, a
prominent Iraqi blogger resurfaced Friday a day after he was seized by masked
gunmen, his father said, as Amnesty International denounced a "climate of
fear" in the country after protests and deadly violence. Shujaa
Al-Khafaji's family said armed men had snatched him from his home on Thursday
without identifying themselves or showing an arrest warrant.

Khafaji's
Facebook page, Al-Khowa Al-Nadifa (Arabic for "Those Who Have Clean
Hands"), carries posts on political and social issues and has some 2.5
million followers. "Around 15 men wearing masks and black uniforms"
took Khafaji from his home, the blogger's father, Fares al-Khafaji said. He
said they seized his son's phones and computers, but were not violent.
Twenty-four hours later, Khafaji was "abandoned in a street with $20 to
pay for a taxi home", his father added.

The report of
Khafaji's seizure sparked an outcry from activists and influential political
leaders. Rights watchdog Amnesty International denounced a "relentless
campaign of intimidation and assault against activists in Iraq" by
authorities. "The Iraqi authorities must immediately rein in the security
forces and dismantle the climate of fear they have deliberately created to stop
Iraqis from peacefully exercising their rights to freedoms of expression and
assembly," said Lynn Maalouf, the group's Middle East research director.

The group said
other activists, including a doctor and a lawyer, were "forcibly
disappeared more than 10 days ago", and called on Iraqi authorities to
reveal their whereabouts. Firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr wrote on Twitter
that "any act of aggression (against journalists or activists)... by the
state constitutes an attack on freedom of speech". Former Prime Minister
Haider Al-Abadi's parliamentary bloc called on the government "to stop
abuses of free media". Iraq was gripped by anti-government protests
between October 1 and 6, during which 110 people, mainly demonstrators, were
killed in clashes with security forces. - AFP