Adil Abdul-Mahdi

Background

Mahdi was born in Baghdad in 1942, the son of a Shiite cleric, Abdul-Mahdi, originally from Dhi Qar Governorate, who was the Minister of Education in Iraq's monarchy, and a mother from Syria. He attended high school at Baghdad College, an elite American Jesuit secondary school. After graduating, he attended Baghdad University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1963. He worked as a secretary for the Iraqi foreign ministry in 1965 and was an early supporter of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, but left due to ideological disagreements. In 1969, he moved to France where he worked for French think tanks and edited magazines in French and Arabic. In 1972 he obtained another Master of Arts degree in political economy from the University of Poitiers. He later obtained a PhD in economics. Abdul-Mahdi is a French citizen, as are his children, and he returned to Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Early career

In the 1970s, Abdul-Mahdi was a leading member of the Iraqi Communist Party. The party split into two separate factions, the ICP-Central Committee, which was more accommodating of the military governments that had ruled Iraq since 1958, and the ICP-Central Leadership, which rejected all forms of cooperation of what it regarded as anti-progressive regimes, in 1967. Abdul-Mahdi joined the ICP-Central Leadership, and continued being active until he was expelled in and formed his own splinter claiming to be the legitimate ICP-Central Leadership. Both the ICP-Central Leadership and Abdul-Mahdi's splinter gradually disappeared by the early 1980s. By that time, Abdul-Mahdi adopted Iranian Islamic ideas, eventually merging with the Islamists when Ayatollah Khomeini eradicated the communists and liberal opposition groups in Iran. Abdul-Mahdi continued his association with Iran and gradually amalgamated his group within the ICP-Central Leadership with the Iranians, rejecting his Marxist past and devoting all his group's time to propagating Khomeini's ideas in France, where he lived at the time. He eventually was made a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, an exiled opposition party and militia that was formed by Iran in Tehran in 1982 but composed exclusively of Iraqi exiles.

Vice-president

In 2006, Abdul-Mahdi, outgoing Vice President in the transitional government, unsuccessfully ran for the United Iraqi Alliance's nomination for Prime Minister against incumbent Ibrahim al-Jaafari. He lost by one vote. He was reportedly considered to be a possibility for Prime Minister once again until Nouri al-Maliki became the UIA nominee. Subsequently, Abdul-Mahdi was re-elected as Vice President of Iraq. He exerted his limited authority in that role by delaying the first meeting of the National Assembly in March.

On 26 February 2007, he survived an assassination attempt that killed ten people. He had been targeted two times prior.

In 2009, his bodyguards were the perpetrators of a bloody bank robbery in Baghdad.

He resigned from his position as vice-president on 31 May 2011. In July 2013, Abdul-Mahdi announced his decision to give up his retirement pensions as a former vice president.

Prime minister

On 2 October 2018, Iraqi president Barham Salih selected Abdul-Mahdi to be the Prime Minister of Iraq. Mahdi had 30 days to form a new government.

In April 2019, Abdul-Mahdi met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. He announced a $14 billion plan to upgrade Iraq's electricity infrastructure, with likely cooperation with German company Siemens. Merkel also pledged to strengthen economic and security cooperation between the two countries, and to continue German support for reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

On 29 November 2019, after weeks of violent protests, Mahdi stated that he would resign from his post. The Iraqi parliament approved his resignation on 1 December 2019.

References

References

1. "H.E. Prime Minister Adil Abd Al-Mahdi receives a call from U.S secretary of Defense Mark Esper".
2. Salaheddin, Sinah. (3 October 2018). "Iraq tasks Shiite independent with forming new government".
3. "عادل عبد المهدي". Al Jazeera.
4. Doug Struck. (14 February 2015). "Prospective Iraqi Premier a Man of Many Labels". Washington Post.
5. Chulov, Martin. (3 October 2018). "Iraqi president names Adel Abdul-Mahdi as next prime minister".
6. (30 November 2019). "Iraqi Prime Minister Resigns in Deepening Political Crisis". The New York Times.
7. "Iraq's consensus prime minister walks a political tightrope".
8. [https://eng.majalla.com/node/47586/adil-adbul-mahdi-iraq%E2%80%99s-new-prime-minister Adil Adbul Mahdi Iraq’s New Prime Minister].
9. MacDonald, Alex. (9 April 2021). "Iraq: Activists hopeful in French legal case against former PM Abdul Mahdi".
10. (3 October 2018). "Abdul-Mahdi: The man tasked with forming Iraq's new government". Rudaw.
11. Ismail, Tariq. (2008). "The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq". Cambridge University Press.
12. "اخبار رسیده از بغداد پایتخت عراق حاکی از آن است که "عادل عبدالمهدی" از سمت خود استعفا داد.".
13. Sly, Liz. (27 February 2007). "VP survives assassination try in Iraq". Chicago Tribune.
14. (2 September 2009). "In Bank Killings, Highs and Lows of Iraq Justice". The New York Times.
15. "اخبار رسیده از بغداد پایتخت عراق حاکی از آن است که "عادل عبدالمهدی" از سمت خود استعفا داد.".
16. Hussein, Ahmed. (30 July 2013). "Adil Abdul Mahdi gives up his pensions".
17. "Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi sworn in with 14 ministers, so far". Rudaw.
18. Şimşek, Ayhan. (30 April 2019). "Merkel: Germany supports territorial integrity of Iraq".
19. [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/29/iraq-pm-resign-protests-abdul-mahdi-al-sistani Iraqi PM says he will resign after weeks of killing protests] - Guardian(29 November 2019)
20. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50600495 Iraq unrest: PM Abdul Mahdi to resign after bloodiest day in protests] - BBC(29 December 2019)