Islamic Action Organisation

Islamic Action Organisation also known as the Islamic Task Organisation or Munazzamat al-'Amal al-Islami is a Shi'ite political party in Iraq .¹ It existed for several decades as anti-Bathist group closely associated with the larger al-Dawa . Founded in the 1960s in Karbala the IAO followed the teachings of Ayatollah Mohamed Sadeq Al-Shirazi and was more radical than al-Dawa. It was the first of the Shi'ite opposition groups to turn to using terrorism against the Baathist regime. Its most notable action was an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Tariq Aziz in April 1980 . This attack led to a strict crack down on the group and much of its presence inside the country was lost. Originally backed by Syria the group became based in Iran during the Iran-Iraq War . It continued to mount attacks inside Iraq. The group is also accused of working to encourage an Islamic Revolution in the Gulf States , especially Bahrain , at the behest of the Iranians. The IAO also played an important role in the post- Gulf War Shi'ite uprising that was crushed by Saddam. At that time the group was led by Ayatollah Abul-Qasim al-Khoei . In the 1990s the group divided into rival factions, one based in Syria the other in Iran. The party did not endorse the 2003 invasion of Iraq , but was pleased to see Saddam removed from power. The son of al-Khoei al-Sayed Abdul-Mejid al-Khoei returned to Iraq as leader of the group soon after the invasion began. Only weeks after arriving, however, he was murdered on April 10 , 2003 . The killing is widely believed to have been ordered by rival Shi'ite leader Muqtada al-Sadr . Sadr, who had remained in Iraq, felt threatened by the exile organization and worried that it would undermine his power among the Iraqi Shi'ites. In part because of al-Khoei's murder the party became a peripheral one in Iraqi politics. No IAO member was on the Iraqi Governing Council . The party joined the United Iraqi Alliance in the 2005 Iraqi election with most of the other Shi'ite groups. The party was led by Ridha Jawad Taqi in the election.²