Ammar al-Hakim

Ammar al-Hakim (born 26 April 1971 in Najaf, Iraq) is a prominent Iraqi Twelver Shia politician, cleric, and the founder and head of the National Wisdom Movement (Tayyar al-Hikma al-Watani). Born into one of Iraq's most distinguished Shia clerical families, he is the son of Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim, the founder of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), who was assassinated in a massive car bombing in Najaf in August 2003 — just months after returning from exile.

He spent much of his childhood and youth in exile in Iran, where his family had fled after Saddam Hussein's crackdown on Shia political activity. He returned to Iraq following the 2003 US invasion and played an active role in the political transition. Following the death of his uncle Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim from cancer in 2009, he assumed leadership of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), one of the major Shia political parties. In 2017, he founded the National Wisdom Movement after breaking from ISCI, seeking to position himself as a moderate, cross-sectarian Iraqi nationalist figure.

Unlike some other Shia political figures, al-Hakim has positioned himself as a bridge-builder between Iran and Saudi Arabia, maintaining relationships with both regional powers. He has visited Riyadh and met with senior Saudi officials, unusual for an Iraqi Shia politician. He advocates for Iraqi sovereignty, national reconciliation, and reducing foreign interference in Iraq's affairs. He maintains a significant following particularly among educated Shia Iraqis and is considered one of the more internationally connected Iraqi political figures.