''Al Hawza'' or ''al Hauza'' was an

Arabic language Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

weekly newspaper in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

History and profile

''Al Hawza'' started publication in 2003 after the removal of

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

, and American media considered it to be the mouthpiece for

Shi'ite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood to ...

cleric

Moqtada Sadr Muqtada al-Sadr (; born 4 August 1974) is an Iraqi Shia Muslim cleric, politician and militia leader. He inherited the leadership of the Sadrist Movement from his father, and founded the now dissolved Mahdi Army militia in 2003 that resisted th ...

. It was a weekly newspaper published every Thursday. The paper was a religious cultural publication. Its chairman was Abbas Al Rubayi. Hasan Al Zarkani served as the editor. Ali Yasseri was the editor of the paper when it was suspended. It was shut down by the 759th Military Police Battalion, under orders of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

-led administration of

Paul Bremer Lewis Paul Bremer III (born September 30, 1941) is a retired American diplomat. He was the second ''de facto'' head of state of Iraq as leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United State ...

on 28 March 2004, after being accused of encouraging violence against Coalition troops. The closure of the weekly was protested by hundreds of Iraqis in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

shortly after the ban.

References

{{italic title 2003 establishments in Iraq 2004 disestablishments in Iraq Newspapers established in 2003 Newspapers disestablished in 2004 Defunct Arabic-language newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Iraq Defunct weekly newspapers

History and profile

See also

References