Suhaib al-Rawi (; born 1966) is an

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i politician and the former Governor of Anbar until August 2017. He is a member of the

Iraqi Islamic Party The Iraqi Islamic Party is the largest Sunni Islamist political party in Iraq as well as the most prominent member of the Iraqi Accord Front political coalition. It was part of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and is part of th ...

Political career

On 23 December 2014, the Anbar Provincial Council voted in al-Rawi as the next Governor of the province. 18 out of the 30 members of the council voted for al-Rawi during a meeting held in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. Previously, on 13 December, the council had voted to make al-Rawi's predecessor, Ahmad Khalaf al-Dulaimi, retire due to injuries he had received. On 24 December, the President of Iraq,

Fuad Masum Muhammad Fuad Masum Hurami (; , born 1 January 1938) is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the seventh president of Iraq from 24 July 2014 to 2 October 2018. He was elected as president following the 2014 parliamentary election. Masum i ...

, approved al-Rawi's appointment in a decree, which was announced on 28 December. According to Ayub Nuri, writing for Rudaw, "It is said that the people of Anbar support him and he has a genuine following" because he "has so far remained neutral between the tribes and the government and rather focused on his job as governor." In late February 2015, al-Rawi met with tribal elders from Anbar, led by Sheikh Rafi Abd al-Karim al-Fahdawi, where they stressed that "Anbar must not be liberated but by its people" rather than by those from outside the province. On 13 August 2015, al-Rawi announced that he was dismissing all of his aides and advisers as part of the

Prime Minister of Iraq The prime minister of the Republic of Iraq is the head of government of Iraq and the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces. On 27 October 2022, Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani became the incumbent prime minister. History The prime minist ...

Haider al-Abadi Haider Jawad Kadhim al-Abadi (; born 25 April 1952) is an Iraqi politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq from September 2014 until October 2018. Previously he served as Minister of Communication from 2003 to 2004, in the first government afte ...

's reform plans to crack down on corruption within government. Al-Rawi also announced that he was dismissing all the district managers who had been in their jobs for more than four years or performed poorly.

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wrote that al-Abadi's "reform drive is especially important in Anbar, the Sunni heartland in western Iraq where the Baghdad government is focusing its offensive against Islamic State, which has seized large swathes of the country's north and west including the Anbar capital Ramadi." Al-Rawi also said that future appointments would be made "on the basis of experience and competence" and "according to need and specialization". He was removed from his office by the Anbar Provincial Council in June 2016 on charges of misusing powers, negligence, and deliberate delinquency. al-Rawi rejected the decision and demanded a public interrogation. He was dismissed from his position as governor on 29 August by the council after a majority of its members voted to remove him over charges of financial and administrative corruptions. However, he refused to relinquish his position and the dismissal order was revoked by a court on 14 November. In response, the council froze his financial powers the following day. It however revoked his dismissal after the election of its new president on 26 November.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawi, Suhaib Governors of Al Anbar Governorate Living people 1966 births