Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim Explained

Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim
Birth Date:1933
Occupation:Economist
Death Date:12 January 2012
Office1:Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq
President1:Saddam Hussein
Termstart1:1985
Termend1:1987
Predecessor1:Hassan Tawfiq Al-Najafi
Successor1:Subhi Nadhem Frankool
Office2:Minister of Finance
President2:Saddam Hussein
Termstart2:May 1994
Termend2:April 2003
Predecessor2:Ahmad Husayn Khudayir as-Samarrai
Office3:Deputy Prime Minister
Nationality:Iraqi

Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi (1933 – January 27, 2012)[1] was an Iraqi politician who was a Deputy Prime Minister and twice Minister of Finance under the government of Saddam Hussein.

Azzawi originally trained as an economist. He was arrested in 1960 protesting against the government of Iraqi General Abd al-Karim Qasim.[2] He joined the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in 1968 and was named undersecretary of state for Commerce. He was fired from all his official designations in 1982 and demised to low administrative job and expelled from the party, until the 1985 when he became Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq,[3] in April, 1987 he was humiliated in a public meeting and severely dismissed for refusing to transfer a large sum of money at the demand of one of the Saddam's uncles.[2]

President Saddam Hussein forced him back into the position of Minister of Finance in 1995.

In July 1999, he was given the honorary title of Deputy Prime Minister.[2] After the United States-led Invasion of Iraq in 2003, he was listed as number 45 (8 of Diamonds) on the Iraqi most-wanted playing cards. He was peacefully detained from his house in Baghdad on April 19, 2003 by Iraqi police and handed over to the US military.[4]

He died, aged 79, in prison due to lack of his heart medications. A government spokesman said his health had been deteriorating because of aging,[1] although another cited cancer as the cause of death.[5]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1-73237-Iraqi-former-deputy-PM-dies-at-age-of-79.html Iraqi former deputy PM dies at age of 79
  2. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/azzawi-hikmat.htm Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim Al-Azzawi
  3. Web site: المحافظين. البنك المركزي.
  4. News: Saddam's Ex-Finance Minister Taken into Custody in Baghdad. 19 April 2003. Sofia News Agency (novinite.com).. 2009-01-15.
  5. http://www.alliraqnews.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3086:former-minister-of-finance-past-away&catid=39:genral-news&Itemid=48 Finance Minister of Saddam's regime passed away