Safia Taleb Ali al-Suhail

Last updated

Safia Taleb Ali al-Suhail is an Iraqi politician who currently serves as an Ambassador of Iraq to Saudi Arabia, having previously served as the ambassador to Italy and Jordan. She was appointed the first female ambassador of Iraq in Oman in 2004, and she held important political and diplomatic positions in the country, including: a member of the Iraqi parliament for two parliamentary sessions on the capital Baghdad in the period 2005-2014, and the head of the Europe Department in the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2014-2016, and the ambassador of the Republic of Iraq. To the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the period 2016-2019 ”, She was a former member of the Council of Representatives of Iraq who was elected in December 2005 for the secular Iraqi National List.

Contents

Background

Safia was born in 1965 to a Lebanese mother. [1] Her father, Sheikh Taleb al-Souhail al-Tamimi, was himself also the leader of the Banu Tamim tribe and was a Muslim. He fled Iraq with his family to Lebanon after the Ba'ath Party coup of Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in 1968. Safia later lived in Amman, Washington and Paris. [2]

Sheikh al-Tamimi was assassinated in Beirut in 1994, reportedly after planning a coup against Saddam Hussein which was foiled when the United States allegedly tipped off Hussein. [3] Safia took over her father's opposition role, arming opposition Iraqi groups, editing the opposition newspaper Al Manar Al Arabi and becoming the advocacy director for the International Alliance for Justice, a Paris-based human rights organisation. [2]

In December 2002 she met Prime Minister Tony Blair to report the human rights abuses in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The following month she wrote an article criticising the United Nations for investigating weapons of mass destruction but not investigating "crimes against the Iraqi people". She called for the establishment of a UN Commission to investigate human rights abuses and for Saddam Hussein to be indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity. [4]

She was also appointed in December 2003 as a member of the anti-Saddam Hussein opposition in exile "Follow-Up and Arrangement Committee" as a member of the "National Campaign to Free Iraq from Dictatorship".

Return to Iraq

Al-Suhail returned to Iraq following the Invasion of Iraq in March 2003 by the United States and allied forces.

In June 2004, her Kurdish husband, Bakhtiar Amin which happens to also have a dual nationality being French, was appointed Minister of Human Rights in the Iraqi Interim Government of Ayad Allawi. [1] The following month, Al-Suhail was appointed as Iraqi Ambassador to Egypt., [5] this was denied later on by Al-Suhail for accusations to the Foreign Minister of Iraq at the time Hoshyar Zebari that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs employs large numbers of Baathists.

In February 2005 she appeared next to Laura Bush for President George W. Bush's 2005 State of the Union Address as leader of the "Iraqi Women's Political Council". [6] She then put herself forward as a candidate for the President of Iraq. [7]

During negotiations over the Constitution of Iraq she called for Islam to be made "a main source" for legislation and not "the main source". She complained that the gains in women's rights since 1959 had been lost. This was considered one of the first statements made by an Iraqi official revealing the deteriorating women's rights status in post invasion Iraq in comparison to the Baathist Regime. [8]

In November 2005 she was reported to have started a list - the "Iraqi Pledge Coalition" - with other Iraqi Women to campaign in the forthcoming elections to amend Article 39 of the Constitution of Iraq which deals with personal status law. [9] However, following the elections she was nominated a member of the Council of Representatives of Iraq for the secular Iraqi National List of Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

In September 2007 she was reported to have left the Iraqi National List for the same reason she refused her ambassadorship to Egypt, grouping in the Council of Representatives, complaining that Allawi was highhanded and had many former Baathists amongst his ranks. [10]

She is particularly visible in Council of Representatives (parliament) proceedings as she is the only member who doesn't speak with an Iraqi accent. Instead she speaks with a Lebanese accent.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iraqi National Congress</span> Political party in Iraq

The Iraqi National Congress is an Iraqi political party that was led by Ahmed Chalabi who died in 2015. It was formed as an umbrella opposition group with the aid and direction of the United States' government following the Persian Gulf War, for the purpose of fomenting the overthrow of longtime Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iraqi National Accord</span> Political party in Iraq

The Iraqi National Accord, known inside Iraq as Wifaq, is an Iraqi political party founded by Iyad Allawi, Tahsin Muallah and Salah Omar al-Ali in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Garner</span> United States Army general and United States Marine

Jay Montgomery Garner is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who in 2003 was appointed as Director of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, making him the immediate replacement of Saddam Hussein as the de facto head of state of Iraq. Garner was soon replaced by Ambassador Paul Bremer and the ambassador's successor organization to ORHA, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer</span> 72nd prime minister of Iraq

Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawar is an Iraqi politician. He was the vice president under the Iraqi Transitional Government in 2006, and was interim president of Iraq under the Iraqi Interim Government from 2004 to 2005. He also served as the president of the Governing Council of Iraq in 2004 following the US-led coalition invasion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayad Allawi</span> Prime Minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005

Ayad Allawi is an Iraqi politician. He served as the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Previously he was interim prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and the president of the Governing Council of Iraq in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mowaffak al-Rubaie</span> Iraqi politician

Mowaffak Baker al-Rubaie is an Iraqi politician, and was Iraq National Security Advisor in the government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and in 2005-2006 Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari and 2006-2009 Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He was elected to the Iraqi Council of Representatives in December 2005 as a nominee of the United Iraqi Alliance and from 2014-2018 in the Iraqi Parliament.

Nuri al-Badran was the Minister of Interior in the cabinet appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council in September 2003. A secular Shiite Muslim, Badran served in the government of Saddam Hussein as ambassador to the Soviet Union until fleeing Iraq upon its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. In exile, he joined the Iraqi National Accord opposition group. Badran resigned his post in April 2004 amid a corruption scandal.

Hashim Abderrahman al-Shibli is an Iraqi politician from Baghdad who was the Iraqi Justice Minister from 2006 to 2007 in the government of Nouri al-Maliki. A Sunni Arab, he was elected to the National Assembly of Iraq in December 2005 on the secular Iraqi National List coalition.

Human rights in pre-Saddam Iraq were often lacking to various degrees among the various regimes that ruled the country. Human rights abuses in the country predated the rule of Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT), formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal and sometimes referred to as the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal, is a body established under Iraqi national law to try Iraqi nationals or residents accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or other serious crimes committed between 1968 and 2003. It organized the trial of Saddam Hussein and other members of his Ba'ath Party regime.

Hazim al-Shaalan al-Khuzaei was Iraq's Defence Minister from June 2004 until May 2005 under the Iraqi Interim Government of Ayad Allawi.

The Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) was the largest union federation in Iraq in the first half of the 2000s and, under Decree No. 16 in January 2004, the only one recognized by the Iraqi government. This, along with the organization's alliance with Ayad Allawi's transitional government, many other labor organizations distrusted and criticized the IFTU. In 2005, IFTU claimed 12 national unions and over 200,000 members, though it merged with three other union federations to form the General Federation of Iraqi Workers in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hajim al-Hassani</span> Iraqi politician

Hajim Mahdi Saleh al-Hassani to a prominent family is an Iraqi politician and was the speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly under the Iraqi Transitional Government. A moderate Sunni Arab and relative outsider, having spent much of his life in the United States, al-Hassani was tapped as a compromise candidate for the speaker's post after weeks of deadlock between Iraqi political parties. al-Hassani had previously been a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party in exile and was Industry Minister under the interim government of Iyad Allawi.

The Iraqi Intelligence Service also known as the Mukhabarat, General Intelligence Directorate, or Party Intelligence, was an 8,000-man agency and the main state intelligence organization in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The IIS was primarily concerned with international intelligence collection and analysis but also performed many activities inside Iraq in conjunction with the Directorate of General Security as a secret police organization.

Salah Omar Al-Ali was a member of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, Iraqi Minister of Culture and Information from 1968 to 1970, and subsequently ambassador to Sweden, Spain and the United Nations from 1973 to 1981. He is currently a leading member of the Iraqi opposition.

Baghdad College is an elite high school for boys aged 11 to 18 in Baghdad, Iraq. It was initially a Catholic school founded by and operated by American Jesuits from Boston. The 1969 Iraqi government nationalization and expulsion of Jesuit teachers changed the character of the school. It has been compared in the British media to Eton College and is arguably Iraq's most famous secondary school for boys, having produced an Iraqi prime minister, a deputy prime minister, a vice president, two dollar billionaires and a member of the British House of Lords, among many other notable alumni.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vice President of Iraq</span>

Iraq has had three vice presidents or deputy presidents serving concurrently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bakhtiar Amin</span> Kurdish Iraqi politician

Bakhtiar Amin is a Kurdish Iraqi politician who was the Human Rights Minister in the Iraqi Interim Government from June 2004 to May 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi</span> Former Prime Minister-designate of Iraq

Mohammed Tawfik Allawi is an Iraqi politician who was the Iraqi Prime Minister-designate in 2020, and twice Minister of Communications in the Al Maliki government from May 2006 until August 2008 and from 2010 to 2012. Both times he resigned from his position in protest against al-Maliki's sectarian agenda and political interference. He was nominated to serve as Prime Minister of Iraq in February 2020, but withdrew his nomination after Parliament failed to reach a quorum.

References

  1. 1 2 LIST OF NEWLY APPOINTED IRAQI AMBASSADORS AROUND THE WORLD, Kurdistan Development Corporation, 2007-02-09, accessed on 2007-09-21
  2. 1 2 Iraqi activist fights for democracy and women's rights, Agence France-Presse via ClariNet, 2003-11-20, accessed on 2007-09-21
  3. ↑ US Secretly Helped Saddam, Al-Bawaba via TruthSeeker, 2003-12-20, accessed on 2007-09-21
  4. ↑ Saddam Hussein’s War Against Iraq, Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, 2003-01-01, accessed on 2007-09-21
  5. ↑ Women's Issues in Iraq, Ash-Sharq al-Awsat via Informed Comment , 2004-10-12, accessed on 2007-09-21
  6. ↑ State of the Union 2005, The White House , 2005-02-02, accessed on 2007-09-21
  7. ↑ Iraqi Woman Ambassador to Vie for Presidency, Assyrian International News Agency , 2005-02-25, accessed on 2007-09-21
  8. ↑ Iraqi activist taken up by Bush recants her views, The Independent , 2005-08-28, accessed on 2007-09-21
  9. ↑ IRAQI WOMEN ANNOUNCE ELECTORAL LIST, Radio Free Europe , 2005-11-03, accessed on 2007-09-21
  10. ↑ Allawi Rejects al-Maliki's charge of Treason, al-Sharq al-Awsat via Informed Comment , 2007-09-21, accessed on 2007-09-21

Literature

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.