The decisions came a day after followers of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr staged an armed uprising across at least five Iraqi cities. On Monday, the head of the US occupation Paul Bremer declared Sadr to be an outlaw, and the US made public an old warrant for his arrest on charges that he was involved in the slaying of a rival cleric last year.

Sadr responded by saying, “I’m accused by one of the leaders of evil, Bremer, of being an outlaw. If that means breaking the law of the American tyranny and its filthy constitution [for Iraq], I’m proud of that and that is why I’m in revolt.”