Hussain al-Shahristani
Hussain Ibrahim Saleh al-Shahristani is the current Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy.[1]
Born in 1942 in Karbala, Iraq, Shahristani received a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London in 1965, and an MSc from the University of Toronto in 1967, from where he also received a PhD in Chemical Engineering in 1970.[2] From 2006 to 2010, he was Iraq's Minister of Oil, and he served as Acting Minister of Electricity in 2010.[3] He was a former nuclear scientist who was imprisoned in Abu Ghraib in 1980 and subjected to torture.
The reasons for his imprisonment have remained unclear. Some former Shiite leaders have stated that he used his powerful government position to make and distribute pamphlets urging Iraq's Shiite soldiers to abandon the army and fight against their fellow soldiers and officers. Other government defectors, including Khidir Hamza his supposed successor, have claimed that he was imprisoned for his lack of skill in handling Iraq's nuclear program, constant problems with the IAEA, and his deliberate moves to delay the program in order to prevent the country from constructing nuclear weapons (costing the government billions of dollars that could have been used toward the Iran-Iraq War[citation needed]) and was imprisoned personally by Saddam Hussein. "While imprisoned and tortured at Abu Ghraib prison for 11 years under Saddam Hussein for 'religious activities,' he refused to help build a nuclear weapon for the country."[4]
He escaped from Abu Ghraib during the Gulf War and escaped to Iran, where he left for Canada.
A senior member of the State of Law alliance,[5] he was previously the deputy speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly under the Iraqi Transitional Government and was considered for the post of Prime Minister in both the current government and the interim government.
He was appointed oil minister in May 2006 after the Islamic Virtue Party, which is also Shia and previously held the oil portfolio, withdrew from the government coalition. By August, however, he was under pressure as the fuel crisis had worsened under his tenure.[6]
Notes and references
- ↑ Iraqi parliament approves new government, "BBC News", 21 December 2010
- ↑ [1], Black Sea Energy & Economic Forum
- ↑ Shahristani given temporary power portfolio, "Iraq Oil Report", 23 June 2010
- ↑ Profile: Hussain al-Shahristani, Times Online, 26 May 2004.
- ↑ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD9G2G4EO0
- ↑ Civil War Violence Explodes Throughout Iraq, Informed Comment, 28 August 2006[dubious ]
Further reading
- Bond, M. "Saying no to Saddam" [Interview]. New Scientist v. 182 (June 26. 2004) p. 44–7.
- Dyer, G. "Two for the Peace Prize" [nominating M. Vanunu and H. Shahristani]. World Press Review v. 45 no. 4 (April 1998) p. 48.
- Glanz, J. "Iraq Compromise on Oil Law Seems to Be Collapsing". The New York Times (Late New York Edition) (September 13, 2007) p. A1, A11.
- Glanz, J. "In Iraq, a Quest to Rebuild One More Broken Edifice: Science". The New York Times (Late New York Edition) (August 31, 2004) p. F1, F4.
- Watson, A. "The Very Model of a Modern Iraqi Dissident" [Interview]. Science v. 298 (November 22, 2002) p. 1543–4.
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by vacant |
Deputy Prime Minister for Energy 2010–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Ahmed Chalabi |
Oil Minister 2006–2010 |
Succeeded by Abdul Karim al-Luaibi |
de:Husain asch-Schahristani fa:حسین شهرستانی fr:Hussein Chahristani nl:Hussain al-Shahristani
