# Faiq Zaidan

Faiq Zaidan (Arabic: فائق زيدان; March 9, 1967) is an Iraqi judge and professor who has been the President of the Federal Court of Cassation since 2016. He assumed the position of President of the Supreme Judicial Council in 2017. During his tenure, he has established strong diplomatic relations with the Justice Ministries of the United Kingdom, the UAE, and others.

## Early life and education

Faiq Zaidan Khalaf Sheikh Farhan al-Aboudi was born on March 9, 1967, in Baghdad, originally from Al-Shatrah District in Dhi Qar Governorate in southern Iraq. He is married and has 6 children, three of whom are girls.
Faiq Zaidan graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the University of Baghdad in 1991, then worked as a Lawyer for six years. Following two years of studying Judicial Sciences, at the Judicial Institute [ar] in Baghdad, Zaidan graduated with a Higher Diploma and became a Judge in 1999. He started his career as a Judge at the Civil and Criminal Courts in Baghdad, Iraq.
In 2017, he graduated with a Master’s Degree in international law from the Islamic University of Lebanon and in 2020, he graduated with a PhD in Public Law from the same university.

## Career

Following the invasion of Iraq and the fall of the Ba'athist regime, Zaidan was among the first judges to be appointed in senior positions in the new Iraqi state. In 2005, he was named the Chief Justice of the Iraqi Central Investigation Court Specialising in Combating Terrorism and Major Crimes. Then in 2012, he became a member of the Iraqi Court of Cassation (the apex court), then its Vice-President in 2014 and finally its President in 2016.
On 23 January 2017, the Iraqi Council of Representatives passed the Supreme Judicial Council Law No. 45 which stipulated that the President of the Court of Cassation shall be the President of the Supreme Judicial Council ex officio. Zaidan then subsequently assumed the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Council.
In January 2021, Zaidan issued an arrest warrant for the United States President Donald Trump, charging him with orchestrating the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. He described it as "a treacherous and cowardly crime that has no moral basis". The warrant, issued under Article 406 of Iraq's Penal Code, accuses Trump of premeditated murder, a crime punishable by death. The arrest warrant was later withdrawn.
In November 2021, the American University of Iraq - Baghdad (AUIB) appointed Zaidan as Distinguished Professor of Law, honoris causa, at the AUIB College of Law.
In April 2023, Zaidan visited the French National Assembly and met with its Deputy President Valérie Rossi as well as the French Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti and discussed ways of cooperation between the two countries.
In August 2023, Zaidan met with United States Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski and discussed legal issues of common interests. This was followed by another meeting in November 2023, where they discussed joint efforts to achieve security stability in Iraq and the role of the judiciary in imposing the rule of law.

## Achievements

* The authority of the criminal court to assess the accused’s confession.
* Thumbprint as evidence.
* Application of the law in terms of time.
* Federal Supreme Court of Iraq - Master's Thesis.
* Constitutional Judicial Oversight of the Constitutional Boundaries between Authorities - A Comparative Study (Iraq - Lebanon - Egypt) - PhD Thesis at the Islamic University of Lebanon.

## Personal life

In an interview conducted by Al Sharqiya in April 2021, Zaidan was asked about his relationship with the former Chief of Staff of the PMF - Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, to which he answered: "Abu Mahdi is my brother whom my mother did not give birth to. We used to share a strong relationship of friendship and brotherhood, only. In terms of any other claims made in the media [such as Zaidan's daughter being married to Abu Mahdi's son], never."