Samarraie presides over 1st session as speaker

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Parliament on Monday held its regular session under the chairmanship of Speaker Iyad al-Samarraie to debate a draft law on non-governmental organizations. “Two draft laws are on today’s agenda,” according to a statement received by IraqiNews.com news agency. Yesterday (April 19), the vote counting to elect a speaker ended with Samarraie winning the post with a majority of votes. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani stepped down as Parliament speaker in December 2008 following a heated argument with members of parliamentary committees, during which he allegedly used “offensive” language that prompted many parliamentarians to call for his resignation. Samarraie was born in 1946 in the city of Samarra, Salah al-Din province. Samarraie is descending from a renowned family. His father used to be the military attaché in an Arab country before receiving a death sentence and was executed in the 1970s. Samarraie was also a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP). He climbed up the partisan ladder in Iraq and was tracked down by the former regime in 1980. He received a death sentence and had to leave Iraq for neighboring Jordan, later to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and then to the United Kingdom (UK), where he re-established the IIP. SS (S) 1