Bodies found in 'maverick religious court'

Iraqi police discovered about 10 bodies in a maverick religious court run by rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s followers in Najaf today and said they were victims of the court’s summary brand of justice.

The stench of the corpses led police, who were deployed in Najaf’s Old City, to the bodies, said Brigadier Amer al-Daami, Najaf’s deputy police chief.

Al-Sadr’s office in Najaf set up the court, which ordered arrests and meted out punishments outside of religious and legal authorities. Local Iraqi officials have in the past demanded the court be shut down and all prisoners freed.

An Associated Press reporter saw about 10 charred and bloated bodies in the court building, including one of an elderly woman.

Police said the bodies belonged to the victims of the court. But a court official, who identified himself only as Hashim, said the corpses belonged to militants killed in the recent fighting in the city.

The courts have arrested hundreds of people on charges including selling alcohol and peddling music deemed immoral.