Najah Hassan Ali al-Shammari (born 20 January 1967) is an Iraqi politician and military officer who served as the

Minister of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

from June 2019 to May 2020. He holds

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

Background

Al-Shammari was born in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. He is a

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

and a member of the

Shammar The tribe of Shammar ( ar, شَمَّر, Šammar) is a tribal Arab Qahtan confederation, descended from the Yemeni tribe of Tayy as they originated in Yemen before migrating into present day Saudi Arabia, It is the biggest branch of Tayy tribe. I ...

tribe (one of the largest and most influential Arab tribes). Al-Shammari graduated from the Iraqi Military Academy in 1987 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

military science Military science is the study of military processes, institutions, and behavior, along with the study of warfare, and the theory and application of organized coercive force. It is mainly focused on theory, method, and practice of producing mil ...

. He also has a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in strategic planning for national security. Al-Shammari later served as a commander in the

Iraqi Special Operations Forces The Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) ( ar, قوات العمليات الخاصة العراقية) are a special operations force of Iraq. The unit was created in 1950, but was disbanded and recruited from scratch by coalition forces after ...

and has held many military positions from 2003 until 2007. He retired in 2018 with the rank of

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Defence minister

On June 24, 2019, al-Shammari was approved by the

Iraqi parliament The Council of Representatives ( ar, مجلس النواب, Majlis an-Nuwwāb al-ʿIrāqiyy; ku, ئه‌نجومه‌نی نوێنه‌ران, ''Enjumen-e Nûnerên''), usually referred to simply as the Parliament is the unicameral legislature o ...

as defence minister of Iraq in

Adil Abdul-Mahdi Adil Abdul-Mahdi al-Muntafiki ( ar, عادل عبد المهدي المنتفكي, born 1 January 1942) is an Iraqi politician who served as Prime Minister of Iraq from October 2018 until May 2020, hundreds of protestors of ''Tishreen revolutio ...

's cabinet. He was nominated to the post by the

al-Wataniya The National Coalition ( ar, Al-Wataniya, ar, ائتلاف الوطنية) is a political coalition in Iraq. Members The following parties made up the coalition for the 2014 Iraqi parliamentary election, 2014 parliamentary election: *Iraqi Natio ...

coalition, led by former prime minister and then vice president of Iraq

Ayad Allawi Ayad Allawi ( ar, إيَاد عَلَّاوِي ; born 31 May 1944) 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 p ...

Reports of dual Iraqi-Swedish citizenship and criminal charges in Sweden

In April 2019, prior to the nomination of al-Shammari as a candidate for the post of defence minister, there were reports in Iraqi media that al-Shammari has dual Iraqi-

citizenship. The claims were rejected as false by a representative of the

coalition. In November 2019, Swedish news website ''

Nyheter Idag Nyheter Idag (News Today) is a Swedish-language online newspaper. The magazine was founded in February 2014 by Chang Frick and Jakob Bergman, and they say their news reports focus on "politics, gossip, social media and foreign news". The public ...

'' reported that al-Shammari is a Swedish citizen registered as a resident in a Stockholm suburb under an alternative surname (this surname was reported to be the name of al-Shammari's

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

within the

tribe). According to the report, which was confirmed by Swedish authorities, al-Shammari applied for a residence permit in Sweden in 2009 and became a Swedish citizen in 2015. It was also reported that al-Shammari was granted several state

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

benefits in Sweden, including full time

sick leave Sick leave (or paid sick days or sick pay) is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because sic ...

, while he did not declare any (or for some years only very low) income from work. He has also been the subject of several criminal investigations in Sweden, although he was never convicted of a crime. Al-Shammari was also accused of sexually harassing a Swedish 20-year-old male while being Defense Minister in leaked text messages, although no other news sources have corroborated the allegation. The

Swedish police The Swedish Police Authority ( sv, Polismyndigheten) is the national police force (''Polisen'') of the Kingdom of Sweden. The first modern police force in Sweden was established in the mid-19th century, and the police remained in effect under loc ...

has launched a preliminary investigation into

benefit fraud Benefit fraud is a form of welfare fraud as found within the system of government benefits paid to individuals by the welfare state in the United Kingdom. Definition of benefit fraud The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) define benefit fr ...

and

civil registration Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events (births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differen ...

violations against al-Shammari after allegedly claiming child and housing support for years despite living in Baghdad. The

Swedish Prosecution Authority The Swedish Prosecution Authority ( sv, Åklagarmyndigheten) is the principal agency in Sweden responsible for public prosecutions. It is a wholly independent organisation; not dependent on the courts or the police, and although it is organized un ...

also announced that it had started an investigation for

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

against "an Iraqi minister", whom Swedish media identified as al-Shammari. Criminal charges have since been dropped and al-Shammari has returned to Sweden.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shammari, Najah al- 1967 births Living people Politicians from Baghdad Iraqi generals Defence ministers of Iraq