Misha'an al-Juburi (; born 1 August 1955) is an Iraqi politician from the Sunni Arab community and member of Al-Arabiya Coalition. He also was the head of Reconciliation and Liberation Bloc, which held three seats in the Iraqi Council of Representatives from 2005 to 2010. Juburi is the publisher of the al-Itijah al-Akhar newspaper and the owner of the Syrian-based Arrai TV. He is a leader of the Jiburi clan, which is powerful in Salah ad Din Governorate. As of 2016, he is a senior member of a parliamentary committee investigating official corruption.
Role under Saddam
Al-Juburi was born in 1955 in the town of Al-Shirqat, located between Tikrit and Mosul. His father was a junior leader of a branch of the powerful Juburi Clan.
In an interview in 1995, Juburi said the President met him in 1975 and gave him cash, a car and facilitated him becoming a journalist, buying his loyalty and admiration. During the Iran–Iraq War, he helped Saddam recruit 50,000 Juburi people to form the Special Republican Guard and Republican Guard. He said he became an "intimate friend" of Uday Hussein and "enjoyed the pleasures of Baghdad".
In the late 1980s, his young son died, and he went on television to criticise the hospital as incompetent, which resulted in him being jailed. After he was released he moved away from politics towards business, exporting wool from Salahuddin to Britain.
In 1989, he started planning a coup against the President. The coup was planned for Army Day in 1990 but was discovered before it could take place. Juburi was the only plotter to survive as he was outside the country at the time. The Juburis tried to assassinate him twice more, in 1991 by bombing a house he was staying in and in 1992 when Juburi's brother plotted to decapitate him. It has also been alleged that although Juburi's brother was involved, Juburi himself was not involved in the coup attempt. Instead, his critics have suggested that he fled Iraq after stealing large sums of money from Uday Hussein, his former business partner.
Exile under Saddam
After the coup attempt, Juburi relocated to Syria. Saddam Hussein killed almost 100 members of Juburi's family in retaliation including his brother and brother-in-law.
He founded the Iraqi Homeland Party in Syria and published a newspaper called the "Other Direction". He is a relative of the Iraqi Ambassador to Tunisia, Hamid al-Jabouri, who defected and sought political asylum in Britain in 1993.
He was a member of the Follow-Up and Arrangement Committee grouping of Iraqi exiles.
Post-invasion
During the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Juburi took control of the city of Mosul with the aid of Kurdish Peshmerga, and took over a former palace owned by Ali Hassan al-Majid. Juburi and KDP peshmerga forces had been the first to enter Mosul, and Juburi had played a key role in convincing the Commanders of the Iraqi Army's V Corps to surrender, instead of fighting the American and KDP forces. He proceeded to appoint himself Governor, apparently with the support of Barzani. Following his self-appointment, a popular uprising brought locals to the street. Locals were angry at Juburi over a mixture of old allegations that he had stolen money from Saddam and newer allegations that he was involved in looting in Mosul following the takeover. American troops then intervened, ending Juburi's Governorship to end the tension. He was recognised as a powerbroker during the selection of the first Mosul City Council in May 2003.
His party, the Reconciliation and Liberation Bloc stood in the Iraqi legislative election of January 2005 where it won one seat. In the subsequent December elections, it increased its representation three seats. Juburi said they supported the Iraqi insurgency, although opposed suicide bombings, and called for the Multinational Force in Iraq to be replaced by United Nations-led peacekeepers.
In 2005, al-Juburi was backed by the Sunni Arab dialogue council as their candidate for speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly, but he was vetoed by the United Iraqi Alliance due to his links with Uday Hussein.
Juburi was among the minority of Sunni Arabs who supported the Constitution of Iraq in the referendum.
Juburi was indicted in December 2005 with the theft of millions of dollars of government money intended to protect oil pipelines near Kirkuk against attack. The money had been given to him in 2004. He was accused by Iraqi officials of diverting the money towards the Iraqi insurgency, although this hasn't been proved. Following the indictment, he fled to Syria.