Hussein Al-Sadr

The Humanitarian Dialogue Foundation is currently in the process of expanding its projects internationally, and will open a cultural centre in London in 2010, the first of many planned for various world capitals. In doing so, the Foundation hopes to detract away from images of war and suffering that have become inextricably linked with perceptions of Iraq, whilst exposing the unique beauty of Iraqi culture and heritage to the many people who have not witnessed it first hand. Weekly programmes of seminars, film screenings, conferences and exhibitions will illustrate the overlooked and often ignored cultural legacies that Iraq has to offer the world.

The Humanitarian Dialogue Foundation was founded in early 2007, at the peak of Iraq's sectarian strife which had engulfed all facets of daily life. In this context of hardship, suffering, violence and need, the Foundation represented Ayatollah Hussein Ismael Al-Sadr's efforts to respond to the plight of ordinary Iraqis, "irrespective of religious creed or confessional identities and promote understanding amongst the nation’s components".

The Foundation was established following the “People of Iraq Conference”, which took place in Baghdad in May 2006 as a response to the spiralling sectarian bloodshed that was tearing up Iraq's communities. The Humanitarian Dialogue Foundation sought to embody the key tenets of understanding and peaceful coexistence that the conference concluded with, including:

The issue of reconciliation and dialogue between Iraq's different religious and ethnic communities has featured heavily in the Ayatollah's recent efforts. On the 24th of February 2004, he hosted the Baghdad Religious Accord with Canon Andrew White, "The Vicar of Baghdad", an agreement reached between 39 representatives of Iraq's different communities, efforts representing “the first time in the country’s history [that] Iraq’s leaders had agreed to work together”. The Accord led to the establishment of the Iraq Centre for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace (ICDRP). Chaired initially by Dr. Mowaffak Al-Rubaie, the Centre sought to address six key issues it saw as being vitally important for Iraq's long-term progress:

In 2003, Ayatollah's relentless efforts to foster peace and reconciliation in Iraq led to him being awarded the Coventry International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation. The prestigious award, whose past recipients include former UN humanitarian co-ordinator Hans von Sponeck and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Following the assassination of his uncle Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr by the Ba’athist regime in 1980, Hussein Al-Sadr was subject to constant harassment at the hands of the Iraqi security forces. Having suffered horrendous torture and a prolonged house arrest because of his association with his uncle, despite he himself being a politically passive figure. It is thought that the Ayatollah was arrested 18 times, often being “hung by his feet for hours from a fan-like construction that continuously rotated”. The injuries sustained during these lengthy detainments have left the Ayatollah with ailments he suffers from to this day.