IRAQ - A Shiite Theocracy In Basra.

Once-libertine Basra, Iraq's second largest city 560 km south of Baghdad and far from the Sunni insurgency raging in much of Iraq, is steadily being transformed into a mini-theocracy under Shiite rule. The Shiite Arab political parties holding sway in Basra wield significant influence in the central government in Baghdad and are backed by the country's top Shiite religious authorities.

Efforts to impose strict Shiite Arab religious rule across Iraq will spur resistance from Sunni Arabs and the more secular Kurds. But in Basra, the changes have accelerated since the Jan. 30 elections, which enabled religious parties to put more radical politicians into office. Small parties with names like God's Vengeance and Master of Martyrs have emerged. They work under the umbrella of more established Shiite Arab groups, but many Iraqis suspect them of being agents of the Iranian government. One of the leading Shiite Arab parties - the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) - was formed in Iran in the early 1980s by Iraqi Ayatollah Mohammed-Baqer Al-Hahim, killed together with many Shiites in Najaf in August 2003, by a Salafi suicide bomber under the command of Zarqawi.

The growing ties with Iran in Basra are evident. Posters of Imam Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 Iranian revolution and founder of Iran's theocracy, are plastered along streets - even at the provincial government centre. The Iranian government opened a polling station downtown for Iranian expatriates during elections in their home country in June. The governor talks eagerly of buying electricity from Iran, given that the US-led effort has failed to provide enough of it.

The NYT on July 8 quoted Saleh Najim, dean of the engineering college at Basra University, as saying: "The political situation is very confused and very mixed up. Most of the radical Islamic parties are concentrated in Basra. The people feel very upset about these parties. They are wasting our time".

Basra is not yet entirely in the grip of fundamentalism - pirated copies of American movies like "Showgirls" and "Striptease" can still be bought in the market. But conservative rule has affected daily life. Thursday and Friday have been designated the official weekend, rather than Friday and Saturday as in Baghdad, because Saturday is the Jewish day of rest.

The biggest issue for Iraqis is security. In Basra the line between the order kept by the local government and the one imposed by shadowy religious militias loyal to the governing parties is blurred. Posters of religious men, including the young mullah Sadr adorn concrete barriers at police checkpoints. Leaders of the militias say their fighters now make up a large part of the uniformed security forces.

There is an upside, however. Basra, though strewn with trash and impoverished, is much safer than Baghdad and other cities beset by the Sunni insurgency. The riverfront walkway known as the Corniche buzzes with life at night. Even foreigners can openly walk the streets. But insecurity is a constant for many Iraqis who do not conform to a strict interpretation of Shiite Islam of the Ja'fari denomination. Iran's theocracy is also Ja'fari Shiite.

In the music bazaar, a tattered warning sign appears on a closed instrument shop owned by a famous musician known as Kareem Trumpet. The sign denounces as "soldiers of Satan" the city's "whorehouses and dealers in porn DVDs and gambling shops and music stores". The bazaar is just blocks away from a strip where sidewalk alcohol vendors once thrived, before armed vigilantes and police officers drove them away. At least three former officials of the Sunni-dominated Baath Party were gunned down in separate incidents, and a Sunni Arab religious man was kidnapped near his mosque and shot dead. Days later a Shiite religious man was fatally shot while going home. Few women walk around without a head scarf and full-length black robe. The NYT quoted a young woman who gave her name as Layla as saying she could wear jeans without a robe a year ago; but now she had to wear the robe. Seven months ago, as she strode from her house, a group of men came up to her and warned her that she was improperly dressed.

Religious Shiite Arabs do not have to legally enshrine Shari'ah, Islam's version of divine law, to exercise their will. Enforcement of Islamic practices is done on the streets, in the shadows. The NYT quoted Furat Al-Shara, a SCIRI representative, as saying: "We're trying to do it culturally, rather than impose it by law".

SCIRI holds powerful positions in the national government. The minister of interior is a SCIRI man. SCIRI has its own militia - the Badr Brigade, which recently said it became a political entity under the name of Badr Organisation. The NYT quoted Sadrist Shaikh Bahadli - who is prominent in the National Assembly - as summing up the conservative view as follows: "If Shari'ah exists everywhere in the world, in China, Korea or Japan, for example, and not just in Iraq, everyone will be happy".

Politicians loyal to SCIRI and to Ayatollah Yacoubi dominate the 41-seat Basra Provincial Council. The Governor, Muhammad Al-Wa'eli, belongs to the ayatollah's party. A faded poster of Yacoubi with a white beard appears on a gate outside Wa'eli's fortified office, ordering Iraqis not to buy or sell American, British or French cigarettes. Beside it hangs a poster of Khomeini with even harsher words: "All the problems of Islam stem from colonialism and the Great Powers". Inside, Wa'eli told The NYT that Iraqi officials were negotiating to buy electricity from Iran to alleviate a power shortage and chronic blackouts.

Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim, the head of SCIRI and a younger brother of slain Ayatollah Hakim, praised that proposal on a visit to Basra in June. Arriving in a convoy from Iran, he said Iraq, particularly the south, could benefit from closer ties to its Shiite neighbour. Hakim told a news conference: "The great Islamic Republic [of Iran] has a very formidable government. It can be very useful to us, and it has a very honourable attitude towards Iraq".

But even in the south, many people still distrust Iran and political parties linked to it. Nearly one million people died in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, which started in 1980 over control of Shatt Al-Arab, the waterway in Basra which flows into the Gulf. The NYT said: "If the residents of...[the Basra] region begin to feel that Iran is exerting too much influence, they could turn against the governing Shiite parties. The NYT quoted a fisherman, Shamkhi Khallawi, 53, as saying he did not expect much help from any political party, and adding: "Everybody works for their own benefit. The politicians work for themselves, not for the people".