Samir Abdul Aziz al-Najim (; born 1937 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 ...

) is a former

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, who held several senior positions under President

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

. He was the Minister for Oil from January to April 2003 and the President's chief of staff for several years after the 1991

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. He also served as the Iraqi ambassador to Egypt, Turkey, Spain and Russia.

Biography

He was born in 1937 in Baghdad from a

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

background. al-Najim was the regional command chairman for the

Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology mixi ...

for East Baghdad. He was accused by US Army officers of helping Saddam Hussein plot assassination attemptsSenior Ba'ath Party Official Captured

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City, U.S. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ow ...

, 2003-04-18, accessed on 2009-02-15 He was convicted in 1959 of the attempted assassination of Prime Minister

Abd al-Karim Qasim Abdul-Karim Qasim Muhammad Bakr al-Fadhli Al-Qaraghuli al-Zubaidi ( ' ; 21 November 1914 – 9 February 1963) was an Iraqi military officer and statesman who served as the Prime Minister and de facto leader of Iraq from 1958 until his ...

and was sentenced to death, although Qassim pardoned Najim. Following the

invasion of Iraq An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives ...

by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and allied forces in 2003, he was depicted as the ''four of clubs'' in their deck of

most-wanted Iraqi playing cards During the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States–led coalition, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency developed a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of President Saddam Hussein's government, mostly high-ran ...

. His assets were frozen under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483 as a "senior official" and transferred to the

Development Fund for Iraq In May 2003, following the invasion of Iraq in March of that year, the Central Bank of Iraq-Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) account was created at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the request of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) ...

.LIST ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1483 (2003)

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, accessed on 2009-02-15 He was captured by Kurdish

peshmerga The Peshmerga () are the internal security forces of Kurdistan Region. According to the Constitution of Iraq, regional governments are responsible for "the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the region such as p ...

near

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

in April 2003.Samir Abd al-Aziz al-Najim
''

Global Security ''International Security'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of international and national security. It was founded in 1976 and is edited by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and publish ...

'', accessed on 2009-02-15 He was held at a prison located in

Kadhimiya Kadhimiya (, ) or Kadhimayn () is a northern neighbourhood of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It is about from the city's center, on the west bank of the Tigris. 'Kadhimiya' is also the name of one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad. As th ...

Region. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and confiscation of all his property on October 26, 2016. He was released from prison in April 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Najim, Samir Abdul Aziz Living people Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region Ambassadors of Iraq to Egypt Ambassadors of Iraq to Turkey Ambassadors of Iraq to Russia Ambassadors of Iraq to Spain Oil ministers of Iraq 1930s births Politicians from Baghdad Iraq War prisoners of war Iraqi prisoners of war Year of birth missing (living people)