Alleged Clip of Saddam Hitmen Killing Shi'a Cleric

Intense footage recently posted online allegedly shows the assassination of a prominent Iraqi Twelver Shi'a cleric, Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, by Saddam Hussein's intelligence personnel in 1999. Following the Gulf War, Shi'ites in Southern Iraq went into open rebellion. A number of provinces overthrew the Baathist entities and rebelled against Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party. The leadership of the Shi'ite rebellion as well as the Shi'ite doctrine in Iraq was split between Ayatollah Ali Sistani and Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr. As his power grew, al-Sadr became more and more involved in politics following the Gulf War and throughout the 1990s he openly defied Saddam. Saddam began to crack down on the Shi'ite leaders in the late 1990s in an attempt to regain control of Iraq. Sometime before his death, al-Sadr was informed of Saddam's limited patience with him. In defiance, al-Sadr wore his death shroud to his final Friday sermon to show that the Shi'ites would not be intimidated by Saddam's oppression and that Sadr would preach the truth even if it meant his own death. He was later killed leaving the mosque in the Iraqi city of Najaf along with two of his sons as they drove through the town. Their car was ambushed by men, and both his sons were killed by gunfire while he was severely injured. He died an hour later in the hospital. Shi'as in Iraq, as well as most international observers, suspect the Iraqi Baathist government of being involved in, if not directly responsible, for their murders. Anger at, among other things, the governments involvement in Sadr's death helped spark the 1999 Shia uprising in Iraq. Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mohammad_Sadeq_al-Sadr