[JURIST] Influential Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani [official website] has denied reports that he will issue a fatwa [JURIST report], or religious edict, telling Shiite Muslims to vote "yes" in the upcoming referendum on the Iraqi constitution [English translation; JURIST news archive]. Rather, Al-Sistani said in a statement reported by the Pentagon-backed Iraqi TV channel al-Iraqiya [media website] that he only intended to invite "voters to vote, yes," but did not intend to order Shiites to vote 'yes' in favor of constitution. The fatwa, al-Sistani insisted, was only instructing Iraq's Shiites that it was their religious duty to vote in the country's landmark elections scheduled for October 15. AKI has more.