Ex-prisoner now Iraq’s interior minister

The charges were serious: smuggling arms used to attack U.S. troops and involvement in an assassination cell at the height of sectarian violence that engulfed Iraq after the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein.

With credentials that include training from Iranian special operators known as the Quds force and time spent as a guerrilla and militia commander, Iraq’s Interior Minister al-Araji is now trumpeting his respect for human rights and support for the U.S.-led coalition in the fight against the Islamic State group.

[...] the forces he now commands have a long history of Shiite domination and abuse, factors that partially contributed to the rise in support for Islamic State in Iraq.

Al-Araji — appointed in January — takes over the ministry at a critical time for the country’s security forces who are under increasing pressure to eliminate the last pockets of Islamic State control, prevent an insurgency from bubbling up in the wake of territorial victories, and repair their reputation in Iraq’s Sunni heartland.

After a controversial March 17 strike in Mosul that killed more than 100 civilians, al-Araji took a rare public position for an Iraqi politician: