The Iraqi Parliament on Monday finally elected three candidates to key ministerial posts in the government of Adil Abdul-Mahdi.
The parliament elected Najah Hassan al-Shamari as Minister of Defense, Yassin al-Yasiri for the Minister of Interior, and Farouq Amin Shwani as the Minister of Justice.
Interior
Minister
Yassin
Taher al-Yasiri was born in Baghdad in 1958. He served as adviser to the minister
of interior. He is a lecturer at the Police College, and the High Institute for
Security and Administrative Development.
Yasiri is a researcher and author in international law and the security strategies. He holds a doctorate in public law philosophy from Al-Nahrain University.
Yasiri has joined the Ministry of the Interior in 1979, and has held many leadership positions in the ministry.
Yasiri is backed by Ammar al-Hakim, a senior Shia leader, whose parliamentary bloc with 19 seats recently announced they would play the role of the opposition during this parliamentary term.
Defense
Minister
Maj.
Gen. Najah Hassan Ali al-Shammari was born in Baghdad in 1967. He was retired
at his request in 2018. He was a leader in the Special Forces branch, and has
held many military positions from 2003 until 2007.
The new defense minister graduated from the Military College in 1987 after obtaining a bachelor's degree in military sciences. He also obtained a master's degree in strategic planning for national security. He also took many specialized military and security courses in Iraq, Jordan and America.
Shamari is a Sunni Arab and senior Iraqi military officer who was supported and nominated by Ayad Allawi, the former Prime Minister and vice-President of Iraq.
Justice
Minister
Farouk al-Shwani was born in 1957 in Kirkuk. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Law and
Politics and obtained a High Diploma in Judicial Sciences from the Higher
Judicial Institute in Baghdad in 1993. He held several positions including the
presidency of the courts of appeal in Dhi Qar, Anbar and Kirkuk.
Shwani is a high-ranking Kurdish judge who served as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) candidate.
He has received many letters of thanks and appreciation from the Iraqi government in the field of human rights and counter-terrorism. He has been a judge in the Presidency of Kirkuk Appellate Court since 2003.
Shwani is Kurdish. He was granted the justice portfolio, according to the political distribution of the sects, which is considered a custom rather than a law in Iraq.