Faiq Zaidan

Faiq Zaidan
فائق زيدان العبودي
Faiq Zaidan in 2025
Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq
Incumbent
Assumed office 23 January 2017
Preceded by	Hassan Ibrahim Humairi
President of the Court of Cassation of Iraq
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 February 2016
Personal details
Born	Faiq Zaidan Khalaf Sheikh Farhan al-Aboudi (1967-03-09) 9 March 1967 (age 57) Baghdad, Iraq
Alma mater	Islamic University of Lebanon (LL.M., PhD) Judicial Institute of Iraq (Higher Diploma) University of Baghdad (LL.B.)
Occupation	Lawyer, Judge, Professor

Faiq Zaidan (Arabic: فائق زيدان; March 9, 1967) is an Iraqi judge, professor and the President of the Federal Court of Cassation since 2016. In 2017, he assumed the position of President of the Supreme Judicial Council.^[1] He has established strong diplomatic relations with the Justice Ministries of the United Kingdom,^[2] the UAE,^[3] and others.^[4][5]

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.^[6]

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 path as a Judge at the Civil and Criminal Courts in Baghdad, Iraq.^[1]

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.

In 2021, Faiq Zaidan emphasized the close relationship and friendship he had with the former Deputy Chief of the Iranian-backed paramilitary group PMF - Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Zaidan refers to al-Muhandis, who was assassinated alongside Qasem Soleimani by a targeted U.S. drone strike in January 2020, as "my brother whom my mother did not give birth to".^[7]

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.^[1]

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.^[8]

• The authority of the criminal court to assess the accused’s confession.^[9]
• 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.^[1]