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Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani

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Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani
محمد شياع السوداني
Al Sudani in 2024
Prime Minister of Iraq
Incumbent
Assumed office
27 October 2022
PresidentAbdul Latif Rashid
Preceded byMustafa Al-Kadhimi
Minister of Industry and Minerals
In office
14 August 2016 – 25 October 2018
Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi
Preceded byNasser Al Esawi
Succeeded bySalih Abdullah al-Jubouri
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
In office
14 September 2014 – 25 October 2018
Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi
Preceded byNassar al-Rubaye
Succeeded byBassem al-Rubaye
Minister of Human Rights
In office
21 December 2010 – 18 October 2014
Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki
Preceded byWijdan Michael Salim
Succeeded byMohammed Mahdi al-Bayati
Governor of Maysan Province
In office
2009–2010
Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki
Preceded byAdil Mahwadar Radi
Succeeded byAli Dawai Lazem
Personal details
Born
Mohammed Shia' Sabbar Hatem al-Sudani

(1970-03-04) 4 March 1970 (age 54)
Baghdad, Ba'athist Iraq
Political partyAl-Furatayn (2019–present)[1]
Dawa (until 2019)[2]
Alma materUniversity of Baghdad
ProfessionPolitician
Signature

Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani (Arabic: محمد شياع السوداني; born 4 March 1970) is an Iraqi politician who has been the Prime Minister of Iraq since 27 October 2022. Prior to his premiership, he held a number of ministerial positions; namely, Minister of Industry and Minerals, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, acting Minister of Trade, acting Minister of Finance, acting Minister of Migration and Displacement,[3] acting Minister of Agriculture,[4] and Minister of Human Rights.[5][6] He was Governor of Maysan in 2009–2010.[7]

Early life

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Al-Sudani was born in Baghdad, on 4 March 1970, to a middle-class Shia Arab family.[8] Hailing originally from southern Iraq, namely, Maysan, his father worked as an employee at the Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Iraq.[9] At the age of 10, al-Sudani witnessed the execution of his father and five other family members for being members of the Islamic Dawa Party; a banned party at the time, that opposed Ba'athist rule in Iraq.

Al-Sudani holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Baghdad in Agricultural Science and a master's degree in Project Management. He is married and has four sons.

Sudani participated in the 1991 uprisings that began after the end of the Gulf War. In 1997, he was appointed to Maysan Agriculture Office, in which he was the Head of Kumait City Agriculture department, Head of Ali Al-Sharqi City Agriculture department, Head of Agricultural Production department and the supervisor Engineer in the National Research Program with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

After the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies in 2003, Sudani worked as a coordinator between the Maysan Province administration and the Coalition Provisional Authority. In 2004 he was appointed Mayor of Amarah City. In 2005 he was elected as a member of Maysan Province Council. He was reelected in 2009 and appointed governor by the council.

Career

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Iraqi Minister of Human Rights

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He was appointed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as the Minister of Human Rights after the 2010 parliamentary election, being approved by parliament on 21 December 2010.

His ministry was in charge of finding Mass graves in Iraq that occurred during the regime of Saddam Hussein. Two such instances were reported in 2011, One in Anbar and another in Al Diwaniyah.[10][11]

During 2011, he was briefly chairman of the Supreme National De-Baathification Commission|Justice and Accountability Commission for De-Ba'athification, which had the power to bar individuals from government for links to the former ruling Ba'ath Party.[citation needed]

He coordinated with the ministry of migration to help Iraqi citizens residing in Syria to return to Iraq during the Syrian Civil War.[12]

He was minister in August 2014 when thousands of Yazidis were massacred in northern Iraq by the Islamic State (ISIS or Daesh). He described it as "a vicious atrocity" and said it was the "responsibility of the international community to take a firm stand against the Daesh" and to "start the war on Daesh to stop genocides and atrocities against civilians".[13] He asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch an investigation into crimes against civilians committed by ISIS. He described their crimes as amounting to genocide and crimes against humanity.[14] "We are facing a terrorist monster", he explained. "Their movement must be curbed. Their assets should be frozen and confiscated. Their military capacities must be destroyed."[15]

He was moved to the ministry of Labor in 2014, and his post in the ministry of human rights was succeeded by Mohammed Mahdi Ameen al-Bayati in October 2014, when the government of Haider al-Abadi took office.[16]

Prime minister

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Al-Sudani with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in April 2024

In a bid to end the 2022 Iraqi political crisis, the coordination framework officially nominated al-Sudani for the post of prime minister in May 2022.[17] He succeeded in forming a government, which was approved by the Council of Representatives on 27 October.[18]

In January 2023, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, al-Sudani defended the presence of U.S. troops in his country and set no timetable for their withdrawal, referring to the U.S. and NATO troop contingents that train and assist Iraqi units in countering Islamic State, but largely stay out of combat, though he mentioned that the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq is no longer needed.[19]

Al Sudani with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in November 2023

The Economist has said that al-Sudani is affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the state-sponsored militia umbrella organization that unites different armed factions, and his tenure has seen their influence further increase in Iraq.[20] His government has increased the number of troops for the PMF by 116,000, increasing the total number to around 230,000, and has set its budget to US$2.7 billion. It has also launched a building company affiliated with the PMF, named after killed PMF commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis; the company gives preferential access to government contractors and the government has awarded the company with strategic land.[20]

On 20 July 2023, al-Sudani expelled the Swedish ambassador to Iraq and revoked work permits for Swedish companies after Sweden approved a planned Quran burning.[21]

On 10 October 2023, al-Sudani arrived in Moscow and met with Russian president Vladimir Putin.[22] On 21 October 2023, he called for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war.[23] During a meeting with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, he described the Hamas attack on Israel as "a result of years of criminal policies of the Zionist regime against the people of Gaza."[24]

On 17 February 2024, he met with German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Munich while he was attending the Munich Security Conference where he met with various world leaders.[25]

In April 2024, al-Sudani condemned the Israeli bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus.[26] Also in this same month he visited the United States and met with President Joe Biden.[27] Also he received the Turkish president Recep Teyyip Erdogan and they signed a revolutionary project called the Iraq Development Road.[28]

In May 2024, he attended the memorial ceremony for late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash, in Iranian capital, Tehran.[29]

In September of 2024 at the UNGA he condemned the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and met various leaders who discussed with him bilateral relations.[30]

References

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  1. ^ "Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al Sudani's Biography | Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Washington, D.C."
  2. ^ "السوداني يعلن استقالته من حزب الدعوة وائتلاف دولة القانون". Archived from the original on 2023-04-27. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  3. ^ "Who is Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani". Washington Institute. Archived from the original on 2022-12-21. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  4. ^ "محمد شياع السوداني.. رئيس الوزراء العراقي". AlJazeera. Archived from the original on 2024-08-25. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
  5. ^ "وزارة حقوق الانسان :: Ministry Of Human Rights". Humanrights.gov.iq. Archived from the original on 2008-03-24. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  6. ^ "تشكيلة الحكومة العراقية :: Iraqi Cabinet Members". CIA. Archived from the original on 2013-03-13.
  7. ^ Brown, Alan (28 November 2010). "Maysan Province receives new vocational training center". dvidshub.net. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  8. ^ Kadow, May; Yavorsky, Erik (18 November 2022). "Who Is Mohammed Shia al-Sudani?". washingtoninstitute.org. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  9. ^ "محمد شياع السوداني.. رئيس الوزراء العراقي". Al Jazeera.
  10. ^ الحيدري, نبيل (2011-08-10). "المقابر الجماعية في العراق...قصص َعذاب وهويات ضحاياها". إذاعة العراق الحر (in Arabic). Retrieved 2024-08-25.
  11. ^ ب, بغداد-أ ف. "استخراج رفات 812 شخصا من مقبرة جماعية غرب العراق". صحيفة الوسط البحرينية (in Arabic). Retrieved 2024-08-25.
  12. ^ "وزارة حقوق الإنسان تجدد دعوتها العراقيين إلى العودة من سوريا | الحرة". www.alhurra.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 2024-08-25.
  13. ^ "Exclusive: Iraq says Islamic State killed 500 Yazidis, buried some victims alive". Reuters. 2014-08-10. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
  14. ^ "UN Human Rights Council Requests Investigation into Daesh's Human Rights Abuses in Iraq". International Justice Resource Center. 3 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
  15. ^ Heilprin, John; Press, Associated. "UN backs inquiry of IS group's alleged crimes". KRQE News 13. Archived from the original on 2014-09-27. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
  16. ^ Sikimic, Simona; Atkinson, Mary (10 July 2015). "Iraq's human rights minister talks battling IS and the Speicher 'mass murder'". Middle East Eye. Archived from the original on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  17. ^ "Coordination Framework nominate Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani as candidate for Iraqi prime minister". Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. 25 July 2022. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022.
  18. ^ "Iraqi parliament approves new government headed by Mohammed Shia al-Sudani". Reuters. 27 October 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-11-02.
  19. ^ "Iraqi PM Backs Indefinite U.S. Troop Presence in Country: WSJ Interview". US News & World Report. 15 January 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-01-18. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  20. ^ a b "The Iraqi militias are copying their overmighty cousins in Iran". The Economist. 8 June 2023. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 20 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Prime Minister orders to withdraw the Iraqi Chargé d'Affairs in Stockholm, and instructs the Swedish Ambassador to leave Iraqi territory". Iraqi News Agency. 20 July 2023. Archived from the original on 20 July 2023.
  22. ^ Mahmoud, Sinan (10 October 2023). "Iraqi leader Al Sudani in Moscow to discuss Middle East situation with Putin". The National. Archived from the original on 17 November 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  23. ^ Al-Rahim, Rend (25 October 2023). "Iraq, Sudani, and the War on Gaza". Arab Center Washington D.C. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  24. ^ "Raisi meets Sudani, says Iran and Iraq have 'common position' on Gaza war". Anadolu Agency. 6 November 2023. Archived from the original on 17 November 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  25. ^ "Iraqi PM Mohammed Shia al Sudani meets with German Chancellor Olag Scholz in Munich, Germany at the Munich Security Conference". Iraqi News Agency. 2024-02-17. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2024-02-25. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  26. ^ "Iraqi PM, Iranian president discuss Israeli attack on Iranian consulate in Syria". Xinhua News Agency. 4 April 2024. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  27. ^ "Baghdad Is Ready for a New Chapter in U.S.-Iraq Relations". United States Institute of Peace.
  28. ^ "Turkish President Erdogan makes rare state visit to Iraq". 22 April 2024.
  29. ^ "Iran's Khamenei leads prayers at Raisi memorial before tens of thousands". Al Jazeera.
  30. ^ "Iraq | General Debate". gadebate.un.org. 22 September 2023.
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