Sawsan Ali Majid Al-Sharifi (Arabic: سوسن علي ماجد الشريفي) (born 1956) was made the
Minister of Agriculture
An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...
in
Iyad Allawi
Ayad Allawi ( ar, إيَاد عَلَّاوِي ; born 31 May 1944) is an Iraqi politician. He served as the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Previously he was interim prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and the ...
's
Iraqi Interim Government
The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the drafting of the new constitution following the National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005. T ...
in 2004.
Biography
Sawsan Ali Sharifi was born in Baghdad in 1955. After completing her
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
(1977) in Animal production from the
University of Baghdad
The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt.
Nomenclature
Both University ...
. She moved to the United States to pursue studying at
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...
(ISU) and earned a master's degree in 1981 in
Animal Science
Animal science is described as "studying the biology of animals that are under the control of humankind". It can also be described as the production and management of farm animals. Historically, the degree was called animal husbandry and the ...
,
and earned a PhD. in 1983.
After her return to Iraq, Sharifi was appointed on the Scientific Research Council in 1984. Six years later, she was promoted to the post of major researcher. More than 40 of her research papers were published in ''Iraqi Journal of Agriculture'' and she edited the publication for several years.
Al Sharifi also served on the State Board of Agricultural Research. She conducted research on livestock in Iraq and appointed as the National Coordinator to the
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
FAO for the buffalo research. Following the
2003 invasion of Iraq, Al Sharifi was appointed as the deputy minister of Agriculture during the
Coalition Provisional Authority
)
, capital = Baghdad
, largest_city = capital
, common_languages = Arabic Kurdish English (''de facto'')
, government_type = Transitional government
, legislature = Iraqi Governing Council
, title_leader = Administrator
, leader1 = ...
.
She was promoted to the cabinet minister post in
Iraqi Interim Government
The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the drafting of the new constitution following the National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005. T ...
(June 2004) under
Ayad Allawi
Ayad Allawi ( ar, إيَاد عَلَّاوِي ; born 31 May 1944) is an Iraqi politician. He served as the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Previously he was interim prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and the ...
.
The following year, she secured a seat in
Iraqi List
The Iraqi List ( ar, القائمة العراقية) is a political party list in the Iraqi National Assembly election, 2005, consisting of mainly secular Shia. It is dominated by the Iraqi National Accord led by former exile and interim prime ...
and was
elected to the Transition National Assembly and served on its Committee for Agriculture.
To aid the takeover of
Genetically engineered food
Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Gene ...
plants being sold to Iraqi farmers, who then had to pay large sums of money for the pesticides and fertilizers and taxes on the yield, Al Sharifi came out in support of government aid: "We need Iraqi farmers to be competitive, so we decided to subsidize inputs like pesticides, fertilizers, improved seeds and so on. We cut down on the other subsidies, but we have to become competitive."
In July 2017,
Commission on Public Integrity
The Iraqi Commission of Integrity ( ar, هيئة النزاهة; CoI), formerly known as the Commission on Public Integrity (CPI), is an independent commission within the government of Iraq tasked with preventing and investigating corruption at al ...
sentenced Sharifi to seven-year imprisonment for corruption. She had signed a contract between her ministry and a private firm for supplying portable excavators. The commission in its inquiry, found that the amount approved was beyond the limit prescribed for ministers. Orders were issued for seizure of her property. Later, the sentence was reduced to five years.
The Court concerned with integrity issues / the presidency of the Baghdad Appeal Court / Federal Rusafa / Supreme Judicial Council issued on 3/12/2019 its decision to stop the legal procedures against her according to the provisions of Article 305, and thus the minister was acquitted.
The court relied on Ministerial Order 6317 on 02-25-2019 issued by the Ministry of Agriculture to waive the case before the competent court, which is based on the recommendations of the central inclusion committee to investigate the extent of the responsibility of Dr. Sawsan Ali Majid Al Sharifi, former Minister of Agriculture, and the decision of the specialized technical committee approved by the administration of the General Company for Agricultural Supplies regarding the contract between the General Company for Agricultural Supplies and the German Company for Water and Energy (GWE) to supply 7 well drilling rigs with spare tools, the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture decided that there was no waste or loss of public money and that the minister was not responsible for any damage due to the failure to implement the contract mainly. Rather, only the LC was opened for this contract, contrary to the recommendations of the Minister at the time. The contract was not implemented in the first place, and accordingly, the minister was acquitted.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharifi, Saswan Ali
1956 births
Living people
People from Baghdad
University of Baghdad alumni
University of Iowa alumni
Iraqi scientists
Government ministers of Iraq
Women government ministers of Iraq
21st-century Iraqi women politicians
21st-century Iraqi politicians
20th-century Iraqi women politicians
20th-century Iraqi politicians