Naseer al-Chaderchi

Naseer Kamel al-Chaderchi (Arabic: نصير كامل الجادرجي, also written Naseer Chadirji or Nasir al-Chadirchi) was an Iraqi lawyer and politician who carried one of the most famous names in Iraq's democratic tradition into the turbulent years after 2003. He was a member of the Iraqi Governing Council formed after the fall of Saddam Hussein, secretary-general of the revived National Democratic Party founded by his father, and a lifelong advocate of a civil, secular and democratic Iraq. He died in Amman, Jordan, on Saturday 12 September 2026, aged 93 according to the Iraqi press.

He was born in Baghdad in 1933 into a political and cultural household. His father, Kamel al-Chaderchi, was a lawyer, journalist and one of the leading democratic figures of the monarchy era, the founder of the National Democratic Party who opposed the British-backed monarchy and later played a prominent role in the era of Abd al-Karim Qasim. His mother was Muniba Asaf Arif Agha. His elder brother was Rifat Chadirji, the celebrated modernist architect, and his other brothers were Basil and Yaqthan. The Iraqi Council for Peace and Solidarity said that growing up in his father's home shaped his early awareness of national independence, freedom and social justice.

As a student he took part in the great protest movements of the monarchy period: the Wathba uprising of January 1948, the uprising of October 1952 and the 1956 protests in solidarity with Egypt during the Suez crisis. He was pursued and detained in that period. He graduated from the College of Law in Baghdad in 1962 and practised as a lawyer. After the Baathist coup of 8 February 1963 he was arrested and held by the new authorities, and those who knew him later spoke of his steadfastness and loyalty to his comrades in detention.

Unlike many opponents of the Baath regime, he remained in Iraq during the Saddam Hussein years. The BBC described him in 2003 as a Sunni who lived in Baghdad and worked as a lawyer, businessman and farm owner, noting that Iraqis knew and respected his family's name.

After the 2003 invasion he helped revive the National Democratic Party and became its secretary-general. In July 2003 he was named to the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, the interim body appointed under the Coalition Provisional Authority, where he served until the council was dissolved in mid-2004. He was a signatory member of the council that adopted the Transitional Administrative Law in March 2004. According to the peace council's obituary, he objected to several occupation policies, especially the dissolution of the Iraqi army and the loss of its members' rights, and he opposed Resolution 137, the council's December 2003 decision to replace Iraq's unified personal status law, which women's groups saw as a threat to their rights. Former comrades interviewed after his death recalled that he was no friend of Paul Bremer and refused to move into the Green Zone. He was then a member of the Interim National Council of 2004 to 2005, but his party did not win seats in the December 2005 parliamentary elections.

He continued to work to unite Iraq's fragmented secular and civil forces. In 2008 the Christian Science Monitor reported that he had gathered the signatures of nearly 800 prominent Iraqis from all communities on an appeal calling for the separation of religion and state. He later helped found the Iraqi Democratic Current, arguing that communists, democrats and other civil forces had to work together against sectarian quota politics and corruption.

He also earned recognition in the cultural sphere. Iraq's culture minister Faryad Rawanduzi honoured him for his part in returning paintings by major Iraqi artists that had gone missing after 2003. In 2017 Dar Al Mada published his memoirs, Mudhakkirat Naseer al-Chaderchi (Childhood of Contradictions, Rebellious Youth, the Road of Troubles), a book of about 500 pages that he said he wrote at the urging of his elder brother Rifat and his friends. A second edition followed in 2018.

He was married to Amira Abdul Wahab Jawad al-Kelidar, who died in 2015. Their son Kamil Chadirji, named after his grandfather, served as an Iraqi deputy minister and led efforts to preserve the family home and library in Baghdad.

Naseer al-Chaderchi died in Amman on 12 September 2026. Iraq's president Nizar Amedi mourned him as a national voice marked by moderation and a commitment to Iraq's unity, and Iraq's ambassador to Jordan attended the condolence gathering held in Amman on 14 September 2026. Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani said Iraq had lost a figure known for his national positions and his belief in democracy and pluralism, and former foreign minister Mohammed Ali al-Hakim recalled working with him on the Governing Council and that he led Iraq's delegation to the 2004 Arab summit in Tunis. On 25 September 2026 the Al-Mada House on Baghdad's Mutanabbi Street held a memorial session at which his comrades recalled his life. His cause of death was not made public.