Sami al-Askari (Arabic: سامي العسكري) is an Iraqi politician and member of the Iraqi National Assembly, elected from the State of Law political coalition[1] During the regime of Saddam Hussein he was active in exile opposition politics, joining the 1992 Executive Council of the Iraqi National Congress as a representative of the Islamic Dawa Party. In 2003, al-Askari joined the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council (IRDC) led by Emad Dhia and worked for Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Central Baghdad office as Media Spokesman. He was a member of the committee that drafted the Constitution of Iraq. In 2009, al-Askari was involved in the handover of British hostage Peter Moore to the Iraqi government authorities.[2] Moore was later returned to the UK.
In December 2013, al-Askari announced he was splitting from the State of Law and forming his own coalition that "to reach out to disaffected voters whom [Prime Minister Nouri al-] Maliki, with his roots in Shiite religious politics could not, such as the secular, women and the young."[3]