The US charges of murder against Al-Sadr are FALSE, and the judge that signed arrest warrant was with Saddam's secret police.
I remember the incident because it was widely discussed among policy wonks in the internet at the time (and I saved my bookmarks). Al-Khoei was not the target, but another other cleric who had been a Saddam supporter.
There was no murder here! It was a crowd that was outraged at seeing a cleric that had worked for Saddam's Ministry of Religious Affairs.
The judge that signed the arrest warrant against Al-Sadr was a member of Saddam's much feared secret police (Thanks to KurtNilsen for finding that article). The US is lying as usual.
Here are the two stories, one from the BBC dated April 10, 2003, about the incident in question. The other story is from The Guardian dated October 22, 2003, about Habboush, the former Mukhabarat officer that is working for Chalabi.
Shia leader murdered in Najaf
Thursday, 10 April, 2003
A senior Shia cleric working with coalition forces has been killed inside a mosque in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.
Abdul Majid al-Khoei returned to Iraq from exile in London only last week.
He was one of two Muslim leaders hacked to death outside the Ali Mosque, one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims.
The other was cleric Haider Kelidar, whom according to Arabic satellite channel al-Jazeera, had worked for Saddam Hussein's ministry of religious affairs.
<snip>
He (Khoei) had noticed Mr Kelidar coming under attack by a crowd and gone to help him - but was himself knifed. Both men died.
Other reports said crowds shouted abuse at the clerics, causing Mr Khoei to produce a gun and fire shots.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2936887.stm Plan to arrest maverick Iraqi cleric for murder
Michael Howard in Baghdad
Wednesday October 22, 2003
The Guardian
Coalition and Iraqi officials are preparing an arrest warrant for the firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr over his alleged involvement with the brutal murder of a rival cleric last spring, sources close to the Iraqi governing council told the Guardian yesterday.
The warrant, which has yet to be finalised, cites Mr Sadr for instigating a deadly attack on Abdel Majid al-Khoei, who was stabbed to death by a mob in the Shia holy city of Najaf on April 10.
It is said to be signed by Tahir Jalil Habboush - a senior mukhabarat officer under the former regime who now works with the coalition authorities - and is based on the confessions of 23 men who were involved in the killing. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1068114,00.html