Aqila al-Hashimi was an Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i politician who served on the Iraqi Governing Council

Iraqi Governing Council

The Iraqi Governing Council was the provisional government of Iraq from July 13, 2003 to June 1, 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority...

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Aqila al-Hashimi was born in 1953 into a prominent Shi'ite religious family in Najaf

Najaf

Najaf is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2008 is 560,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate...

. She gained a degree in Law in Iraq and a doctorate in French Literature at the Sorbonne

Sorbonne

The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

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She joined the Foreign Ministry in 1979 working as a French translator for Tariq Aziz

Tariq Aziz

Tariq Aziz and Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq and a close advisor of former President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s when both were activists for the then-banned Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party...

. Al-Hashimi ran the oil for food programme in the Foreign Ministry under Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

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She was one of only three women on the IGC and the only member of the former regime to have been on the Council. She had been expected to become Iraq's new Ambassodor to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 

She died of abdomen wounds suffered five days earlier when her convoy was ambushed by six men in a pickup truck near her home in western Baghdad. The killing was blamed on supporters of the former president, Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

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External links

• Interview with the BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
  's Woman's Hour