Don't seek revenge, Iran cleric tells Iraq Shi'ites

Dubai, Feb 14 (Reuters) Influential Iranian cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called on fellow Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq today not to pursue revenge against Sunnis in the Arab state which is on the verge of a sectarian war.

Iraq's Shi'ites say they were oppressed for decades under the Baathist rule of Sunni former president Saddam Hussein, whose regime was replaced by a Shi'ite-led government after the 2003 US-led war.

''Shi'ites should not think that because they suffered injustice in the past that the chance has come for them to take revenge,'' Rafsanjani said in a debate with a top Sunni cleric broadcast by Al Jazeera television.

But Rafsanjani, who condemned sectarian bloodshed in Iraq, argued that Sunni Muslims started the violence against Iraqi Shi'ites, citing the assassination of a key cleric and attacks on holy Shi'ite shrines.

''We must note who started,'' he said.

Rafsanjani heads a key state body and is an adviser to Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

US forces have launched an offensive against Sunni and Shi'ites militants in Iraq, seen as a last-ditch attempt to prevent all-out civil war.

In the debate, Egyptian Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi pressed for a binding Shi'ite edict ordering Iraqi Shi'ite militants to refrain from violence.

''I believe that Iran has the power and influence over much of what is happening in Iraq, which enables it to tell some people to stop (killings),'' said Qaradawi who heads an umbrella group of Sunni imams.

''This is the stance that can solve the problem, extinguish the fire and prevent a civil war ... in which we all would be loser and the only winners would be the American, the Zionists (Israel) and the enemies of this (Islamic) nation.'' Shi'ite clerics have always denounced bloodshed in Iraqi, said Rafsanjani, but steered away from making an edict similar to one made by the leader of Shi'ite guerrilla group Hezbollah in a bid to stop Lebanon from slipping into sectarian violence.

Many of Iraq's Shi'ites follow reclusive spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and abide only by his edicts.

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