Al-Maliki: al-Hakim’s death big lose to Iraq

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki expressed his sorry over the death of Head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) Abdulaziz al-Hakim, considering his death as a big lose to Iraq. “We offer our condolences to the Iraqi people and the Islamic nation for the death of Abdulaziz al-Hakim who was an elder brother and a strong pillar during our fight against the former regime and during the reconstruction of the new Iraq,” al-Maliki said in a statement received by Iraqi News. Ammar al-Hakim, son of Abdulaziz al-Hakim, announced in an urgent statement the death of his father, praising his history in fighting the former regime and consoling the Iraqi people and the Islamic world. Al-Hakim, born in 1950, headed the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) since 2003, after his brother, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer al-Hakim, was killed in a car bomb. Abdulaziz al-Hakim’s son Ammar al-Hakim is expected to next lead SIIC. SIIC is part of Iraq’s ruling Shiite alliance, which also includes Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa party, but SIIC announced this week it would lead a new group to compete in January’s polls without Maliki. SH (S) 1