Qasim al-Araji

Qasim Mohammad Jalal al-Araji is an Iraqi politician, head of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, and a senior member of the Badr Organization.

He was born around 1963 in Kut, southern Iraq. He studied accounting at the Ayatollah Motahhari University in Iran, and Islamic studies at the Imam Kadhim Institute.

His official biography claims he moved to Iran shortly after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, but it is believed he was actually a soldier in the Iraqi army in 1984 and fought in the Iran–Iraq War. He was captured by Iran and pledged allegiance to the government, joining the pro-Iranian Badr Organisation. He received military training in camps of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He fought against Iraq for the remainder of the war, later carrying out intelligence work against the government of Saddam Hussein.

After years of exile in Iran, he returned to Iraq after the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States. On April 19, 2003, he was arrested by the US on suspicion of commanding militia forces. He was held for 85 days and then released on insufficient evidence.

In the 2014 Iraqi parliamentary election, he was elected as a member of parliament for the Wasit Province. He was also appointed as a member of the Security & Defense Commission and head of the Badr bloc in the parliament.

Between 2014 and 2015, he repeatedly claimed the United States was supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, saying, "The U.S. has supported ISIS in Syria and funded the group in Iraq," adding that, "The duality of America is very clear in terms of fighting ISIS, The U.S. government supports the Kurdistan region in battling ISIS, but refuses to stand with the Iraqi security forces or the tribesmen in battling the group."

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