Father Of U.K. Muslim Brotherhood Leader Elected As Head Of Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood

Iraqi media is reporting that Osama al-Tikriti has been elected as the new secretary general of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP). According to one report:

  The new secretary general of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), Osama al-Tikriti, on Monday said that the party’s agenda and program will remain unchanged after his election for the position. “I will be part of the political process and among the blocs that lead the government and the Parliament,” Tikriti said in his first press conference as the secretary general of the party. On Sunday (May 24) evening, the IIP elected Tikriti as its new secretary general, succeeding Hashemi.

Osama al-Tikriti is the father of Anas al-Tikriti, the former leader of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) a leader in the British Muslim Initiative (BMI), both part of the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood.

The IIP is strongly tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood. According to a profile posted on globalsecurity.org:  

The Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), established in 1960, is the major Sunni political organization in the country …The party was suppressed during the regime of former President Saddam Hussein. Many of its members were forced to flee the country. The party returned to public life after coalition forces occupied Iraq. The IIP seeks to preserve the leading role Sunnis have had in running the country starting with the establishment of the modern Iraqi state in the beginning of the 20th century. The Iraqi Islamic Party was formed as an Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood organization, and conducted underground work during the Baathist period. Thee party does not considers itself a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood Group, established in Egypt in 1994, nor a political front for it in Iraq. The Iraqi Islamic Party acknowledges strong ties to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood through political and intellectual alliances.