Mohammad Baqir Hakim at a Glance - 2003-08-29

Mohammad Baqir Hakim was born 66 years ago in Najaf. He was the fifth child of Ayatollah Mohammad Mohsen Tabatabai Hakim. His mother came from a prominent family in Lebanon, but it should be noted that the historical roots of the Hakim family trace back to Isfahan. He entered the political arena at the age of 14 and participated in the founding of the Islamic Dawa Party in 1959 under his father's guidance. From 1962 to 1975, having attained the rank of Ijtihad at the age of 25, he served as a professor of Quranic sciences at the College of Principles of Religion (Theology Faculty) in Baghdad. During his stay in Iraq, he was arrested three times by Ba'ath party forces, and in the last instance, he was sentenced to death, but he was released after 18 months in prison following a general amnesty. A few months after the victory of the revolution in Iran, he moved to the country, and this stay continued for some time after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Since 1981, Mohammad Baqir Hakim had been active as the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq in Tehran. The Supreme Council of Iraq had been seeking to establish a religious system in Iraq for years, inspired by the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Mr. Hakim was killed today (August 29) after a powerful bomb explosion following the Friday prayer ceremony at the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf. Arash Irani for the Internet Unit, Persian Section of Voice of America.