Sadr City (formerly known as Saddam City and Al Thawra) is a vast low-income neighbourhood in northeastern Baghdad, home to some two million Shi'a Muslims. It is the seat of power of Muqtada al-Sadr, its de facto ruler and son of its namesake, Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr

After suffering a variety of ill effects under the government of Saddam Hussein (a Sunni), Shi'as in the district claimed a degree of autonomy from the rest of Iraq after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, with their own police force, clinics, and food distribution. At the same time, the city was unofficially renamed Sadr City.

The city is apparently run by local Shi'a clerics like Muqtada al-Sadr, who claim to take orders from upper-level Shi'a clerics in Najaf. They indicate that it is uncertain whether the city will return to the control of a national civil government if one is established.

Saddam City was also the name given by the Iraqi government to Kuwait City during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1990-1991.

See also

• List of places in Iraq

External links

• The Globe and Mail article on Saddam City
• Sadr City on GlobalSecurity.org