Iraqis slam Saudi cleric insults to Sistani

People across Iraq have taken to streets to protest a Saudi cleric’s comments insulting Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Sistani.

Leading Wahhabi cleric Mohammad al-Ureifi in a Friday sermon had insulted Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Sistani.

He also launched an attack on Iraq’s Shiis, accusing 65 percent of the country’s population of conspiring with Yemen’s Houthis against Saudi Arabia.

During demonstrations condemning the remarks, protestors called on the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to take a tough stance on the remarks.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has responded to the verbal attack on the Grand Ayatollah Sistani.

Talabani has appealed directly to the Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz to intervene and stop insults against Iraq’s revered Shii religious authority.

“Insult to Sistani causes division and quarrels that spark the flames in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other countries,” he wrote in a letter to Abdullah.