Malik Dohan al-Hassan ( ar, مالك دوهان الحسن; 1 July 1919 – 23 May 2021) was an Iraqi politician and academician, who served as Minister of Culture and Information in 1967, headed the

Iraqi Bar Association The Iraqi Bar Association (Arabic: ?, also translated in English as Union of Lawyers in Iraq or Iraq's lawyers' union), created in 1933, is the biggest lawyers' association in Iraq, with tens of thousands of members as of 2007. It is a member of t ...

in 2003, and was the Minister of Justice in 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 ...

in 2004.

Early life

Dr. al-Hassan was born in

al-Hilla Hillah ( ar, ٱلْحِلَّة ''al-Ḥillah''), also spelled Hilla, is a city in central Iraq on the Hilla branch of the Euphrates River, south of Baghdad. The population is estimated at 364,700 in 1998. It is the capital of Babylon Province an ...

, south of Baghdad, in 1919 to a shi'a

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, ...

family belonging to the

Jubur Jubur ( ar, جبور, also spelled Jebour, Jibour, Jubour, Jabur, Jaburi, Jebouri, and Jabara) is the largest Arab tribe in Iraq that scattered throughout central Iraq. Part of the tribe settled in Hawija and Kirkuk in the eighteenth century. A ...

clan, one of the largest clans in Iraq. He graduated from the

University of Baghdad The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

in 1947. He continued his studies in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

where he received a Diploma in Public and Private Law from

Montpellier University The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the wor ...

and a Doctorate in Law from the

Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (french: Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, links=yes), also known as Paris 1 or Panthéon-Sorbonne University, is a public research university located in Paris, France. It was created in 1971 from ...

. He then became a Professor of Law at the

. He was elected President of the

Al-Mustansiriya University Mustansiriyah University (Arabic: الجامعة المستنصرية) is a university in Baghdad, Iraq. History The original Mustansiriya Madrasah was established in 1227 (or 1232/34 A.D. by some accounts) by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mustansir ...

in 1966. He authored seminal books in tort law that were taught in law schools in Iraq.

Pre-Saddam government

He was appointed the Minister of Culture and Information in 1967 by President

Abdul Rahman Arif Hajj ʿAbd al-Rahman Mohammed ʿArif al-Jumayli ( ar, عبد الرحمن محمد عارف الجميلي, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿĀrif; 14 April 191624 August 2007) was a career soldier and the third president of Iraq from 16 April 1966 to 17 Ju ...

. He is considered the foremost authority in Iraq on tort law, authored seminal books taught in Iraqi universities.

During Saddam government

al-Hassan was imprisoned under

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 ...

for 2 years, then interned in Baghdad and was prohibited from travel for ten years. He was permanently banned from practicing politics and holding public office. As a result, al-Hassan practiced private law until the end of the Ba'athist rule over Iraq in 2003.

Post-Saddam

In 2003 he was elected to head the

. He was appointed to a task force looking at compensation for the victims of the Saddam Hussein government. In June 2004 he was appointed as the Minister of Justice in the Iraqi Interim Government. As Minister, he was targeted by a car bomb that killed four people, including his nephew. Responsibility was claimed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq. He defended the use of the death penalty against former President

, saying "...we have the right and even the obligation to use the tools that we see useful". Later that year, he threatened to resign unless a judge who had indicted

Ahmad Chalabi Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi ( ar, أحمد عبد الهادي الجلبي; 30 October 1945 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi politician, a founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) who served as the President of the Governing Council of ...

for murder and money laundering was fired.

2005 Iraqi elections

He had initially called for the Iraqi legislative election of January 2005 to be postponed as it could "...trigger civil war". He nonetheless took part with the National Democratic Coalition, who only received 9,747 votes. Even though he did not get elected, he remained a vocal figure in the media and was often asked for his opinion. In February 2007, he criticized the proposed Oil and Gas Law as being too vague.Iraq Oil Technocrats: Time Not Suitable For Oil Law
''Global Policy Forum'', 2007-02-17

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassan, Malik Dohan al- 1919 births 2021 deaths Iraqi centenarians Iraqi Shia Muslims Government ministers of Iraq Justice ministers of Iraq Members of the Council of Representatives of Iraq National Democratic Coalition (Iraq) politicians University of Baghdad alumni University of Montpellier alumni University of Paris alumni People from Babil Governorate Men centenarians