NAJAF, Iraq, March 29 (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has told his followers not to lay down their arms, rejecting a demand by the government, which launched a crackdown against them this week, a top aide said on Saturday. "Moqtada al-Sadr asks his followers not to deliver weapons to the government. Weapons should be turned over only to a government which can expel the occupiers," aide Hassan Zargani told Reuters by telephone. Another Sadr official, Haidar al-Jabari, confirmed the remarks. (Reporting by Khaled Farhan; writing by Peter Graff; editing by Ross Colvin)
A demonstrator holds a picture of Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a protest in Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad March 29, 2008. About 200 demonstrators held a ...
