This is an entry from: Live Blog: The struggle for Iraq
Profile of Ali al-Sistani
15 June 2014 14:36 BST
News site Arabi21 has another profile of a pivotal figure in Iraq, this time of Ayatollah al-Sistani.
Born in Iran in 1930, he moved to Iraq but returned to the city of Qom in central Iran in 1951 to complete his religious studies.
He returned to the Iraqi city of Najaf in 1954, and gained popularity as a mufti.
He was arrested after the 1991 Shiite uprising in southern Iraq and detained for a short period.
Though he has up until now been known for avoiding politics all together, he did issue a statement in the run-up to Iraq's 2005 elections urging people to participate in the poll.