Reclusive cleric greatest challenge to US-led coalition in Iraq

He may represent the greatest challenge to the US-led coalition's plans for restoring sovereignty to Iraq, but powerful cleric Ali al-Sistani hides behind an arcane and near-impenetrable curtain of Shi'ite Muslim ritual and austerity.

Sistani, revered by Iraq's Shiite majority, dwells in a humble office at the end of a dusty lane in the holy city of Najaf, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad.

But few doubt the power of the cleric who has mustered tens of thousands behind a rallying call for direct elections in place of the coalition's scheme to install a new leadership through regional caucuses by June 30.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, which muzzled the Shi'ite hierarchy in Iraq, senior officials from Iraq's interim Governing Council, the coalition, the UN and the Arab League have beaten a path to Najaf to try to win his approval.

"The meetings take place in sayed (leader) Sistani's office and very few people take part," said Laith Shobbar, who has attended some of the meetings as head of the Al-Balad Al-Amin foundation, closely-linked to Najaf's religious authorities.

"When a delegation comes to see the sayed, it will initially spend a few moments with his son, Mohammad Rida Sistani. The delegation sits on the ground and the son offers them a drink, then sends word to his father who comes to receive them," he said.

"Some kiss his hand as a sign of respect. He allows it," said Shobbar.

Sistani "receives any person without distinction of religion, but women must wear a veil", he said.

"These meetings are difficult to obtain, even for family members," he said. "Nobody can take photographs or make a recording."

The protocols have tested the patience of western visitors.

"We've had representatives meet with Sistani, Iraqi American representatives," said one coalition official, requesting anonymity.

"When they meet Sistani they sit in one room, his son comes in, takes a paper with their questions, and Sistani's son comes out with his father's message.

"It's not an effective means of communication. We don't know how much of it is coming from those around him."

According to Shobbar, Sistani's reclusive nature stems from years operating under Saddam Hussein.

"Under the former regime, his sons had to meet with officials most of the time because the sayed was under house arrest.

"Everything depends on the situation and subject. If they require that he speaks a lot, he will speak a lot. But in general he listens."

Ghassan Salame, who attended a meeting with Sistani and Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN envoy who was killed in a car bomb attack in Najaf last August, also sheds light on the wizened cleric's methods.

"At his meeting with Sergio Vieira de Mello, Ali Sistani expressed himself completely clearly and at length without his son intervening," said Salame, de Mello's former political advisor.