Hajim Mahdi Saleh al-Hassani ( ar, حاجم مهدي صالح الحسني; born 1954 in Kirkuk) to a prominent family is an

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

i politician and was the speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly under the

Iraqi Transitional Government The Iraqi Transitional Government was the government of Iraq from May 3, 2005, when it replaced the Iraqi Interim Government, until May 20, 2006, when it was replaced by a permanent government. On April 28 it was approved by the transitional Ira ...

. A moderate Sunni Arab and relative outsider, having spent much of his life in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, 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 The Iraqi Islamic Party is the largest Sunni Islamist political party in Iraq as well as the most prominent member of the Iraqi Accord Front political coalition. It was part of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and is part of the ...

in exile and was Industry Minister under the

interim government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

of Iyad Allawi. Born in Kirkuk, Hassani attended

Mosul University The University of Mosul is a public university located in Mosul. It is one of the largest educational and research centers in the Middle East, and the second largest in Iraq, behind the University of Baghdad. The University of Mosul was closed b ...

and relocated to the United States in 1979. He studied at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

and earned a Ph.D. degree from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

and then spent 12 years a CEO for an investment and trading company in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. While in the U.S., he was involved in the opposition to the

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

regime in exile, and was actively involved with the

(IIP). Hassani returned to Iraq following the U.S. invasion in 2003 and worked with the Interim

Iraqi Governing Council The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The IGC consisted of various Iraqi pol ...

appointed during the period of the

Coalition Provisional Authority ) , capital = Baghdad , largest_city = capital , common_languages = ArabicKurdish English (''de facto'') , government_type = Transitional government , legislature = Iraqi Governing Council , title_leader = Administrator , leader1 = Jay ...

. As the IIP wielded influence in the dangerous Anbar province, Hassani was involved in negotiating a temporary truce with Fallujah-based insurgents in 2004 and successfully stopped an imminent attack on the city. Under the

Iraqi Interim Government The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the drafting of the new constitution following the National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005. T ...

of Iyad Allawi, formed in 2004, Hassani was named industry minister in the new administration. He left the party when the IIP withdrew from the government, retaining his ministry post. He joined the Iraqis coalition of Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer for the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

in January 2005. After the election the post of speaker was reportedly reserved for a Sunni Arab, and al-Hassani, one of only two candidates deemed acceptable to the range of parties, was offered the post. He was elected to the Council of Representatives of Iraq in the Iraqi legislative election of December 2005 as part of the Iraqi National List coalition led by Iyad Allawi. He resigned from that coalition in September 2007, claiming Allawi was high-handed and lacking in vision.Two lawmakers withdraw from the block headed by former premier Allawi
'' International Herald Tribune'', 2007-09-19, accessed on 2007-09-21 Later he formed Nationalist List and participated in the provincial election. He is considered by Iraqis as one of the moderate and liberal politician in Iraq after Saddam's regime and widely respected by most of politicians in Iraq.

References

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External links

BBC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassani, Hajim 1954 births Government ministers of Iraq Speakers of the Council of Representatives of Iraq Living people People from Kirkuk Iraqi Islamic Party politicians University of Mosul alumni