Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
Ayatollah Abdul Aziz al-Hakim (/ˈɑːbdʊl əˈziːz æl həˈkiːm/ AHB-duul ə-ZEEZ al hə-KEEM; Arabic: سید عبد العزيز الحكيم; 1952 – 26 August 2009) was an Iraqi theologian, politician and the leader of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a party that has approximately 5% support in the Iraqi Council of Representatives. He also served as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq (40th Prime Minister of Iraq)
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim
سيد عبدالعزيز الحكيم
سيد عبدالعزيز الحكيم
1 January 1952
Najaf, Kingdom of Iraq
He was a member of the United States-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and served as its president in December 2003. Brother of the Shia leader Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, he succeeded him as leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq when Mohammed Baqir was assassinated in August 2003 in Najaf.
Biography[edit]
Family tree[edit]
Sayyid Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was a member of the Hakim family of Shiite scholars.
Early life[edit]
He was born in 1952,[1] the son of Grand Ayatollah Muhsin Al-Hakim. He was raised in Najaf and then received his theological education through the religious school there, known as the Hawza. He was married to the daughter of Mohammed Hadi al-Sadr and he was the father of two girls and two boys. His son Muhsin Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was a political adviser to him, and his other son Ammar al-Hakim became the Secretary General of Al-Mihrab Martyr Foundation. Seven of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's brothers were killed, six of them on the orders of Saddam Hussein.
Illness and death[edit]
On 16 May 2007 he flew to Houston for medical treatment. Reportedly he had lung cancer.[7] On 20 May 2007, Hakim left the U.S. for Iran, in order to receive chemotherapy treatment.[8] On 26 August 2009, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim died of lung cancer in a Tehran hospital.[9] He was buried in Najaf on 29 August, on the same day and month as his brother, who was killed exactly six years earlier.[10] Hasan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanese Shia resistance group Hizbollah issued an emotional statement regarding the death of Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim. The statement spoke of the "struggle" of Al-Hakim to "rescue" and "uplift the Iraqi people." This drew criticism and calls of sectarianism from political commentator Asad Abukhalil due to the role of Abdul Aziz Al Hakim in the US occupation of Iraq.