Sheikh Hussein Ali al-Shaalan is 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 and tribal leader. A Shiite Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 from Diwaniya, he was elected to the Council of Representatives of Iraq in the Iraqi legislative election of December 2005 from the Iraqi National List

Iraqi National List

The Iraqi National List is a coalition of Iraqi political parties who ran in the December 2005 Iraqi elections and got 8.0% of the vote and 25 out of 275 seats...

 coalition.

Exile

He left Iraq in 1991 after the failure of the 1991 uprisings and was granted asylum in Britain. In 2000 he was involved in the formation of the Democratic Centrist Tendency

Democratic Centrist Tendency

The Democratic Centrist Tendency was an Iraqi political party founded in 2000 in London by Iraqi exiles who were opposed to the rule of Saddam Hussein...

 opposition group, and was part of the Follow-Up and Arrangement Committee

Follow-Up and Arrangement Committee

The Follow Up and Arrangement Committee was an alliance of Iraqi opposition groups formed in the run up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.-Members:The members of the committee were:...

 alliance of opposition groups that was formed in 2003.

Return to Iraq

He returned to Iraq following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

 and became the leader of the 200,000-member Khaza'il tribe and the Iraqi National Council of Tribes which represents 150 tribes. He was considered an ally of Iyad Allawi

Iyad Allawi

Ayad Allawi is an Iraqi politician, and was the interim Prime Minister of Iraq prior to Iraq's 2005 legislative elections. A prominent Iraqi political activist who lived in exile for almost 30 years, the politically secular Shia Muslim became a member of the Iraq Interim Governing Council, which...

. His cousin, Hazim al-Shaalan

Hazim al-Shaalan

Hazim al-Shaalan al-Khuzaei was Iraq's Defence Minister from June 2004 until May 2005 under the Iraqi Interim Government of Ayad Allawi.al-Shaalan was born in Diwaniyya, southern Iraq, into a leading family of the Ghazal tribe. He is a Shia Arab...

, was an ally of Ahmad Chalabi and the Defense Minister from 2004-5 in the Iraqi Interim Government

Iraqi Interim Government

The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the Iraqi Transitional Government was installed following the Iraqi National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005...

.

He was elected to the Council of Representatives of Iraq in January 2005 as part of the Iraqi List

Iraqi List

The Iraqi List is a political party list in the Iraqi National Assembly election, 2005, consisting of mainly secular Shia. It is dominated by the Iraqi National Accord led by former exile and interim prime minister Iyad Allawi...

 and in December 2005 as part of the Iraqi National List

Iraqi National List

The Iraqi National List is a coalition of Iraqi political parties who ran in the December 2005 Iraqi elections and got 8.0% of the vote and 25 out of 275 seats...

.

In December 2010, he became Minister of State.