January 10, 2007

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- A judge in the Higher Criminal Court trying the former regime's key officials has confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that many elements from Al-Mahdi Army militia which is led by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, have infiltrated and settled inside the Green Zone where senior Iraqi officials live. The area also includes the residences of Western diplomats and embassies, foremost of them the United States and Britain.

The judge, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity for security purposes, said in a telephone interview from his residence in the Green Zone that "elements of the Al-Mahdi Army have settled in the Green Zone as part of the force guarding former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. They therefore constitute part of the force protecting some officials in the Unified Iraqi Coalition which is led by Abdulaziz al-Hakim."