Abdul Aziz al-Hakim

Infobox_Person
name = Sayyed Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
سيد عبدالعزيز الحكيم


imagesize = 214px
caption = Leader of the United Iraqi Alliance
birth_date = 1950
birth_place = Najaf, Iraq
party = Leader of SIIC
religion = Shia Islam

Sayyed Abdul Aziz al-Hakim ( _ar. سید عبدالعزيز الحكيم) (born 1950) is an Iraqi theologian and politician and the leader of SIIC, the largest political party in the Iraqi Council of Representatives.

He was a member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and served as its president in December 2003. Brother of the Shia leader Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, he replaced him as leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq when Mohammed Baqir was assassinated in August 2003 in Najaf.

Background

He was born in 1950, the son of Grand Ayatollah Muhsin Al-Hakim. Raised in Najaf and then received his theological education through the religious school there, known as the Hawza. He is married to the daughter of Mohammed Hadi al-Sadr and he is the father of two girls and two boys, his son Muhsin Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is a political adviser for him while his other son Ammar al-Hakim is the Secretary General of Al-Mihrab Martyr Foundation . Seven of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim brothers have been killed, six of them on the orders of Saddam Hussein.

He played a leading role in the Safar Intifada in 1977 and was imprisoned in 1972, 1977 and 1979. He went into exile in Iran in 1980, where he was a founding member in 1982 of SIIC and headed their military wing, the Badr Organization. He was the top candidate listed for the United Iraqi Coalition during the first Iraqi legislative election of January 2005 but has not sought a government post because the Alliance had decided not to include theologians in the governmentFact|date=February 2007.

U.S. visits

On 4 December 2006, al-Hakim met with George W. Bush whereat he made a commitment to help end violence,

Al-Hakim also gave his assessment of the situation in Iraq:

On 5 December 2006, on behalf of The Catholic University of America and American University's Center for Global Peace, he spoke at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center. The title of his speech was "Freedom and Tolerance in Shi'a Islam and the Future of Iraq". Notable guests at this event included Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, D.C. and Rabbi Professor Ephraim Isaac from the Institute of Semitic Studies in Princeton, New Jersey.

On 16 May 2007 he flew to Houston for medical treatment. Reportedly he has lung cancer. [http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/19/ap3738813.html] On 20 May 2007, Mr. Hakim left the U.S. for Iran, in order to receive chemotherapy treatment. [http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_5943571]

References and notes

External links

* [http://www.niqash.org/content.php?contentTypeID=152&id=1014 Background]
* [http://www.leader.ir/langs/EN/index.php?p=news&id=3423 Iraqis must enhance internal ties]
*