Baqir Jabr al-Zubeidi

Baqir Jabr al-Zubeidi
باقر جبر الزبيدي
Fahadawi in 2006.
Minister of Finance
In office May 2006 – December 2010
President	Jalal Talabani
Prime Minister	Nouri al-Maliki
Preceded by	Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi
Succeeded by	Rafi al-Issawi
Minister of Interior
In office April 2005 – May 2006
President	Jalal Talabani
Prime Minister	Ibrahim al-Jaafari
Preceded by	Falah Hassan al-Naqib
Succeeded by	Jawad Bulani
Minister of Housing and Reconstruction
In office September 2003 – June 2004
President	Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer
Prime Minister	Iraqi Governing Council
Preceded by	Coalition Provisional Authority
Succeeded by	Omar Farouk
Personal details
Born	1946 (age 69–70) Amara Province, Kingdom of Iraq
Nationality	Iraq
Political party	Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq
Alma mater	University of Basra
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Shia Islam
Military service
Nickname(s)	Bayan Jabr Solagh
Allegiance	Badr Brigades
Commands	Commander of the Badr Brigades

Baqir Jabr Al-Zubeidi (Arabic: باقر جبر الزبيدي‎‎), also known as Bayan Jabr Solagh, is a former commander of the Badr Brigades who served as the Finance Minister of Iraq in the government of Nouri al-Maliki. He served as Minister of Interior, in charge of the police, in the Iraqi Transitional Government and was Minister of Housing and Reconstruction of the Iraqi Governing Council. He is a senior member of the Shi'a United Iraqi Alliance as well as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Unlike most Shi'a of Iraq, Baqir Jabr is of mixed Turkish and Kurdish ancestry.

Born in 1946 in the Maysan Governorate, Jabr became a Shi'a activist while studying engineering at Baghdad University in the 1970s. He fled to Iran amid Saddam Hussein's crackdown on Shi'a political groups and joined the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). He later headed SCIRI's office in Syria. According to the Independent newspaper Jabr was a former commander of SCIRI's militia, the Badr Brigades.

Under Jabr's control the Interior Ministry in 2006 was accused by the United Nations human rights chief in Iraq, John Pace, of executing and torturing to death hundreds of Iraqis every month.^[1]

On 3 January 2006, his sister was reported kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents.^[2] She was released two weeks later after ransom was paid.

References

• BBC News (1 September 2003). "Iraq's post-war cabinet". Retrieved 24 February 2006. 
• "Iraq official defends 'torture' facility". CNN. 18 November 2005. Archived from the original on 27 April 2006. 
• "Death squads operated from inside Iraqi government, officials say". Knight Ridder. 12 March 2006. 
• Knickmeyer, Ellen (14 May 2006). "Iraq Begins to Rein In Paramilitary Force". Washington Post. Retrieved 26 April 2010. 
• "The Minister of Civil War". Harper's. 20 July 2006. 
• "Iraq - The Death Squads". Channel 4. 7 November 2006. 
• PBS FRONTLINE: Gangs of Iraq April 17, 2007
• Interview with Bayan Jabr, PBS FRONTLINE: Gangs of Iraq November 21, 2006