Aiham Alsammarae - Post Ministry

Post Ministry

Dr. Alsammarae resigned from the Ministry in May 2005 as Ibrahim Al-Jafari, an Iraqi politician with strong ties to Iran was elected as Prime Minister. Dr. Alsammarae remained active in political pursuits such as garnering further support for reconciliation as well as encouraging Sunni's to be more active in politics. However, in the face of growing Iranian control over Iraq, Dr. Alsammarae began to openly criticize the Iranian regime, its presence in Iraq and the Iraqi politicians allied to Iran. This criticism would make him the target of an assassination attempt in January 2006, which resulted in two of his body guards sustaining critical injuries, requiring they be rushed to Amman, Jordan for treatment. The attempt failed, but was followed with charges of corruption leaked to the media by the Iraqi government. Details of the charges are scant, and to date, no Iraqi Government spokesman has revealed any information concerning the charges Dr. Alsammarae faced.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Dr. Alsammarae heard of these charges while he was at his home in Amman, Jordan. He decided to travel to face these charges, but found that he would, instead, be held without being formally charged by the Commission for Public Integrity. The CPI is heavily criticized by Iraqi politicians, with many, such as Massoud Barazani (Governor of Kurdistan), declaring that the CPI is a tool for political retribution and the "...settling of political scores". Furthermore, the head of the CPI was, himself, accused of corruption by the Iraqi Parliament. Regardless, on 11 October 2006 Dr. Alsammarae was convicted of misapropriation of funds regarding a $200,000 generator purchased for the southern province of Maysan. He filed an appeal, and was acquitted of wrongdoing in December 2006. Unfortunately, he was not let out of detainment, and instead was told that he would be taken outside the green zone for finger printing before he would be released. Meanwhile, records show that his family repeatedly contacted the State Department and Senators from their home state of Illinois, asking that they look into his case. On 16 October 2006, Obama's Senate office received a faxed plea from Alsammarae's son, Ramy Alsammarae. "Alsammarae's son claimed in the fax that his father was railroaded for exposing Iraqi government incompetence, and feared his life was in danger." Fearing his safety outside the green zone and cleared of wrongdoing, Alsammarae escaped the unlawful detention and traveled to Amman, Jordan and back to the United States.

Dr. Alsammarae, who has been cleared of all allegations and acquitted by the highest appeals court in Iraq, has continued his work in Iraqi politics. He is currently working with the Iraqi National List, headed by Iyad Allawi. He has concentrated his work on continuing efforts in the area of reconciliation and is actively working to bring Iraqis of various ethnic and religious backgrounds together to form one, nationalistic, secular and democratic front.