Rafi al-Issawi
| Rafi Hiyad al-Issawi | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Minister of Finance | |
|
In office 22 December 2010 – 1 March 2013 |
|
| Prime Minister | Nouri al-Maliki |
| Preceded by | Baqir Jabr al-Zubeidi |
| Succeeded by | Ali Yousif Al-Shukri (acting) |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq | |
|
In office 19 July 2008 – 22 December 2010 Serving with Barham Salih and Rowsch Shaways |
|
| Prime Minister | Nouri al-Maliki |
| Preceded by | Salam al-Zobaie |
| Succeeded by |
Saleh al-Mutlaq Hussein al-Shahristani |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 2, 1966 Anbar, Iraq |
| Political party | National Future Gathering |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
Rafi Hiyad al-Issawi (born 2 March 1966) is an Iraqi politician who is a former finance minister and deputy prime minister. A doctor by profession, he is the fourth most senior politician from the Sunni Arab minority after former Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak and Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Usama al-Nujayfi.
Issawi was born in Anbar in 1966. He comes from the Albu Issa tribe. This tribe is the dominant tribe in an area of around 80 square kilometers south of the city of Fallujah, in the western province of Al-Anbar.
He trained as an orthopedic surgeon in Baghdad and Basra, before becoming the head of the Fallujah hospital. He was in that role during the Second Battle of Fallujah in November 2004 and he reported that 800 local Iraqis had died as a result of the attack. He accused the United States Army of blocking a team of eleven Iraqi ministry of health ambulances with 20 doctors from evacuating the dead and injured or helping the injured. A few months earlier he had accused the US Army of "constantly attacking ambulances", saying that an ambulance driver had been killed in a September 2004 bombing aimed at the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Following the December 2005 election and six months of negotiations, a "government of national unity" was agreed between the four main coalitions, under the leadership of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Issawi, a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party which was part of the main Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front colaition, became minister of state for foreign affairs from 20 May 2006. He withdrew from the government with four other ministers from the Front on 1 August 2007, demanding that the government of Nouri al-Maliki take stronger action against Shi'ite militias. The Front rejoined the government on 19 July 2008 and Issawi was approved as deputy prime minister.
...
Wikipedia