Topic: Nouri Maliki

Nouri Kamil Mohammed Hassan al-Maliki (Arabic: نوري كامل محمّد حسن المالكي, transliterated Nūrī Kāmil al-Mālikī; born June 20, 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki, is the Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party. Al-Maliki and his government also succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government. His 37-member Cabinet was approved by the National Assembly and sworn in on May 20, 2006.

He is married to Fareeha Khalil, and has four daughters and one son. He started in politics as a Shia dissident under Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1970s and rose to prominence after he fled a death sentence into exile more than 20 years ago. During his time abroad he became a senior leader of Dawa, coordinated the activities of anti-Saddam guerillas and built relationships with Iranian and Syrian officials whose help he sought in overthrowing Hussein.

Al-Maliki's constitutional mandate will last until 2010. On April 26, 2006, al-Maliki stopped using the pseudonym Jawad. However the pseudo- or code name "Abu Zahra'a" is still heard on Iraqi satellite media every now and then.