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Sayyed Abdul Aziz Al Hakim returned to Iraq on April 17 2003 following the topple of the former regime and after 23 years in Iran where he led the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI) founded in 1982 as an Iraqi opposition movement in exile.
He gained an influential political role when he took over as head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq after his elder brother, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqer Al Hakim, died in a car bombing that killed 80 people after prayers at Najaf's Imam Ali mosque in August 2003. He was as well a leader of the Badr group, the military wing of the ISCI.
Al Hakim’s political presence was confirmed after his Coalition won recent elections. Though he took no official position in the government, his influence on Iraqi politics was a mainstay.
After winning in elections, Abdul Aziz Al Hakim eased fears over forming a religious government such as in Iran saying that he does not want a Shiite State noting that the situation in Iran differs from that in Iraq while calling on other parties to participate in the political process.
Al Hakim maintained strong ties with Iran where he spent years in exile. However, he stressed that these ties will not affect his political orientations vowing to stand against any country that tries to interfere in Iraq’s internal affairs.
SICI leader’s statements were strongly condemned when he called on Iraq to pay Iran 100 billion dollar in compensations for Iraq war with Iran. Yet, Al Hakim’s aids affirmed that his statements were misunderstood.
Al Hakim supported federalism a main Kurdish demand saying that more than 60 countries follow federalism. If it’s the way to resolve Iraq issue, why not following it, he noted.
Sayyed Abdul Aziz Al Hakim was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2007 after Vice President Dick Cheney, who visited Baghdad that month, arranged for him to be examined at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Al Hakim failed to attend any of the meetings held to announce the new Iraqi Coalition due to the lung treatment he was undertaking in an Iranian Hospital.
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