Top Iraq cleric’s sermon cancelled over virus, a first since 2003

NAJAF, Iraq: Representatives of Iraq´s top Shiite cleric did not deliver his weekly sermon in Karbala on Friday, a first since the fall of Saddam Hussein, due to fears of spreading the novel coronavirus. On Friday, representatives who usually read Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani´s address, broadcast live on state television, did not appear. The 89-year-old Sistani is based in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Karbala, and never appears in public. An official at the site in the holy city of Karbala told AFP that “the cancellation of Friday prayers at the Imam Hussein shrine is a first since 2003”, the year an American-led invasion toppled veteran dictator Saddam Hussein.Sources close to Sistani´s office confirmed the unprecedented nature of the decision.