Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani Explained

Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani
Office:Prime Minister of Iraq
President:Abdul Latif Rashid
Term Start:27 October 2022
Predecessor:Mustafa Al-Kadhimi
Order1:Minister of Industry and Minerals
Term Start1:14 August 2016
Term End1:25 October 2018
Predecessor1:Nasser Al Esawi
Successor1:Salih Abdullah al-Jubouri
Primeminister1:Haider al-Abadi
Order2:Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Term Start2:14 September 2014
Term End2:25 October 2018
Predecessor2:Nassar al-Rubaye
Successor2:Bassem al-Rubaye
Primeminister2:Haider al-Abadi
Order3:Minister of Human Rights
Term Start3:21 December 2010
Term End3:18 October 2014
Predecessor3:Wijdan Michael Salim
Successor3:Mohammed Mahdi al-Bayati
Primeminister3:Nouri al-Maliki
Order4:Governor of Maysan Province
Term Start4:2009
Term End4:2010
Predecessor4:Adil Mahwadar Radi
Successor4:Ali Dawai Lazem
Primeminister4:Nouri al-Maliki
Birth Place:Baghdad, Ba'athist Iraq
Nationality:Iraqi
Party:Al-Furatayn (2019–present)[1]
Dawa (until 2019)[2]
Alma Mater:University of Baghdad
Profession:Politician
Native Name Lang:ar
Signature:توقيع محمد شياع السوداني.svg

Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani (Arabic: محمد شياع السوداني; born 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 Displaced,[3] acting Minister of Agriculture,[4] and Minister of Human Rights.[5] [6] He was Governor of Maysan in 2009-2010.[7]

Early life

Al-Sudani was born in 1970 to an Iraqi Shia Arab family in Baghdad.[8] At the age of 10, he witnessed his father and five other family members being executed for membership of the Islamic Dawa Party. 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

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.

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[9] [10] .

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.

He coordinated with the ministry of migration to help Iraqi citizens residing to Syria to return to Iraq during the Syrian Civil War[11] .

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".[12] 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.[13] "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."[14]

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.[15]

Prime Minister

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.[16] He succeeded in forming a government, which was approved by the Council of Representatives on 27 October.[17]

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.[18] 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.[19] 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.

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.[20]

On 10 October 2023, al-Sudani arrived in Moscow and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.[21] On 21 October 2023, he called for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war.[22] 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."[23]

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.[24]

In April 2024, al-Sudani condemned the Israeli bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus.[25]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al Sudani's Biography | Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Washington, D.C. .
  2. https://www.rudawarabia.net/arabic/middleeast/iraq/131220195 السوداني يعلن استقالته من حزب الدعوة وائتلاف دولة القانون
  3. Web site: Who is Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani. Washington Institute.
  4. Web site: محمد شياع السوداني.. رئيس الوزراء العراقي. AlJazeera.
  5. Web site: وزارة حقوق الانسان :: Ministry Of Human Rights . Humanrights.gov.iq . 2012-10-20 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080324235512/http://www.humanrights.gov.iq/ . 2008-03-24 .
  6. Web site: تشكيلة الحكومة العراقية :: Iraqi Cabinet Members . CIA . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130313003308/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/world-leaders-1/world-leaders-i/iraq.html . 2013-03-13 .
  7. Web site: Maysan Province receives new vocational training center. dvidshub.net. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Alan. Brown. 28 November 2010. 2 January 2023.
  8. Web site: Who Is Mohammed Shia al-Sudani?. washingtoninstitute.org. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy . May. Kadow. Erik. Yavorsky. 18 November 2022. 2 January 2023.
  9. https://www.iraqhurr.org/a/24289591.html
  10. http://www.alwasatnews.com/news/537109.html
  11. https://www.alhurra.com/iraq/2012/08/30/%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%AF%D8%AF-%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7
  12. News: Exclusive: Iraq says Islamic State killed 500 Yazidis, buried some victims alive. Reuters. 2014-08-10. 2015-08-16.
  13. Web site: UN Human Rights Council Requests Investigation into Daesh's Human Rights Abuses in Iraq. International Justice Resource Center. 3 September 2014 . 2015-08-16.
  14. Web site: UN backs inquiry of IS group's alleged crimes. KRQE News 13. 2015-08-16 . John. Heilprin. Associated. Press. 2014-09-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20140927121454/http://krqe.com/2014/09/01/un-backs-inquiry-of-is-groups-alleged-crimes/ . dead.
  15. Web site: Iraq's human rights minister talks battling IS and the Speicher 'mass murder'. Middle East Eye. 10 July 2015. Simona. Sikimic. Mary. Atkinson. 2 January 2023.
  16. Web site: 25 July 2022 . Coordination Framework nominate Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani as candidate for Iraqi prime minister . Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
  17. Web site: 27 October 2022 . Iraqi parliament approves new government headed by Mohammed Shia al-Sudani . Reuters.
  18. News: 15 January 2023 . Iraqi PM Backs Indefinite U.S. Troop Presence in Country: WSJ Interview . US News & World Report.
  19. News: 8 June 2023 . The Iraqi militias are copying their overmighty cousins in Iran . . 0013-0613.
  20. Web site: 20 July 2023 . Prime Minister orders to withdraw the Iraqi Chargé d'Affairs in Stockholm, and instructs the Swedish Ambassador to leave Iraqi territory . Iraqi News Agency.
  21. News: Mahmoud . Sinan . 10 October 2023 . Iraqi leader Al Sudani in Moscow to discuss Middle East situation with Putin . The National.
  22. Web site: Al-Rahim . Rend . Iraq, Sudani, and the War on Gaza . 25 October 2023 . Arab Center Washington D.C. .
  23. News: Raisi meets Sudani, says Iran and Iraq have 'common position' on Gaza war . . 6 November 2023.
  24. News: 2024-02-17 . Iraqi PM Mohammed Shia al Sudani meets with German Chancellor Olag Scholz in Munich, Germany at the Munich Security Conference . 2024-02-25 . . 1.
  25. News: Iraqi PM, Iranian president discuss Israeli attack on Iranian consulate in Syria . 12 April 2024 . . 4 April 2024 . 3 April 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240403215207/https://english.news.cn/20240404/01f9af6ff91a4c84a1ee31486da42291/c.html . live .