Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani

Mohammed Shayya’ Sabbar Al-Sudani (Arabic: محمد شياع السوداني; born 1970) is an Iraqi politician who is serving as the Prime Minister of Iraq since 27 October 2022. He was the Human Rights Minister of Iraq in the Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from 2010 until October 2014.[2][3] He was the Governor of Maysan Province between 2009 and 2010.[4]

His Excellency
Mohammed Shayya' al-Sudani
محمد شياع السوداني
Al-Sudani in 2022
Prime Minister of Iraq
Assumed office
27 October 2022
PresidentAbdul Latif Rashid
Preceded byMustafa Al-Kadhimi
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs
In office
14 September 2014 – 25 October 2018
Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi
Preceded byNassar al-Rubayie
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
Preceded byAdil Mahwadar Radi
Succeeded byAli Dawai Lazem
Personal details
Born1970 (age 52–53)
Baghdad, Ba'athist Iraq
Political partyIndependent (2019-present)
Other political
affiliations		Islamic Dawa Party – Iraq Organisation (until 2019)[1]
Alma materUniversity of Baghdad
ProfessionPolitician
Signature

Early life

Al-Sudani was born in 1970 to a Shia Muslim family in Baghdad.[5] He is married and has four sons. Al-Sudani holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Baghdad in Agricultural Science and a master's degree in Project Management. At the age of 10, he witnessed his father and five other family members executed for membership of the Islamic Dawa Party. Sudani also 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 Kuwait 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 Maysan Province administration and the Coalition Provisional Authority. In 2004 Sudani was appointed as the 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

Iraqi Minister of Human Rights

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.

During 2011, he was briefly chairman of the Justice and Accountability Commission for De-Ba'athification which had the power to bar individuals from government due to links to the former ruling Ba'ath Party.

He was minister in August 2014 when thousands of Yazidis were massacred in northern Iraq by ISIS. 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".[6]

He asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch an investigation into crimes against civilians committed by ISIS. He described the crimes of ISIS as amounting to genocide and crimes against humanity.[7] "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."[8]

He was succeeded by Mohammed Mahdi Ameen al-Bayati in October 2014, when the government of Haider al-Abadi took office.[9]

Prime Minister
Al-Sudani with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in 2023

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.[10] He succeeded in forming a government, which was approved by the Council of Representatives on 27 October.[11]

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.[12]

The Economist has said that al-Sudani is affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and his tenure has seen their influence further increase in Iraq.[13] 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.[13]

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.[14]

References
  1. السوداني يعلن استقالته من حزب الدعوة وائتلاف دولة القانون
  2. "وزارة حقوق الانسان :: Ministry Of Human Rights". Humanrights.gov.iq. Archived from the original on 2008-03-24. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  3. "تشكيلة الحكومة العراقية :: Iraqi Cabinet Members". CIA. Archived from the original on 2013-03-13.
  4. Brown, Alan (28 November 2010). "Maysan Province receives new vocational training center". dvidshub.net. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  5. Kadow, May; Yavorsky, Erik (18 November 2022). "Who Is Mohammed Shia al-Sudani?". washingtoninstitute.org. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  6. "Exclusive: Iraq says Islamic State killed 500 Yazidis, buried some victims alive". Reuters. 2014-08-10. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
  7. "UN Human Rights Council Requests Investigation into Daesh's Human Rights Abuses in Iraq". International Justice Resource Center. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 2015-08-16.
  8. 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.
  9. Sikimic, Simona; Atkinson, Mary (10 July 2015). "Iraq's human rights minister talks battling IS and the Speicher 'mass murder'". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  10. "Coordination Framework nominate Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani as candidate for Iraqi prime minister". PUK media. 2022-07-25. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  11. "Iraqi parliament approves new government headed by Mohammed Shia al-Sudani". Reuters. 2022-10-27. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  12. Iraqi PM Backs Indefinite U.S. Troop Presence in Country: WSJ Interview. January 15, 2023. U.S. News. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  13. "The Iraqi militias are copying their overmighty cousins in Iran". The Economist. 8 June 2023. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  14. "Prime Minister orders to withdraw the Iraqi Chargé d'Affairs in Stockholm, and instructs the Swedish Ambassador to leave Iraqi territory » Iraqi News Agency".
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