'File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia' [‎31v] (62/96)

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A pleasant man of considerable intelligence who
speaks excellent English. He is violently anti-
Zionist.
He worked very well with the Adviser to the
Antiquities Department, but has lately been in per
sonal financial difficulties which have had an
adverse effect on his work. There are few of the
leading politicians with whom he is on really friendly
terms and this too obstructs him.
91. Naji Shaukat
Sunni of Bagdad, born 1891. Studied in Constan
tinople and became a reserve officer. Joined the
Sharif and was at Aqabah with Colonel Lawrence,
for whom he has a great admiration. Returned to
Bagdad in 1919. Early in 1921 he was given an
appointment under the Mutessarif of Bagdad, and
subsequently became mutessarif. He showed con
siderable administrative ability and maintained
cordial relations with his British advisers. He was
appointed Mutessarif of Kut in October 1922, of
Hillah in 1923, and of Bagdad in 1924. Minister for
Interior, June 1928, Minister for Justice, September
1929, and reverted to Interior in the changes which
followed Abdul Mushin’s suicide. Appointed Iraqi
Minister at Angora in September 1930. Recalled to
Bagdad in October 1931 to take up portfolio of
Interior. Became Prime Minister in November 1932.
Received the Order of Grand Officer of the Crown of
Italy in January 1933. Resigned premiership March
1933. Minister for the Interior in November 1933,
resigned February 1934. Again appointed Minister
at Angora April 1934. He accompanied Taufiq
Rustu Aras, the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs,
on his official visit to Bagdad in the summer of 1937,
and was then offered a Cabinet post in Hikmat
Sulaiman’s Government. He declined because of
his objection to Bakr Sidqi’s influence.
Became Minister of the Interior in the Cabinet
formed by Nuri-al-Said in December 1938, but
resigned in April 1939. Deputy for Bagdad in the
elections of June 1939.
Became Minister for Justice in Rashid Ali’s
Cabinet in March 1940.
After the collapse of France, he Became a strong
advocate of reinsuring with the Axis. With Rashid
Ali’s approval he went to Istanbul in September
1940 to establish contact with the German Ambas
sador, Herr von Papen. It was perhaps more than
a coincidence that just before his return to Iraq,
towards the end of October 1940, the local Arabic
press published the official Axis declaration of
sympathy with Arab aspirations, and that just after
his return the resumption of direct telegraphic
communication between Iraq and Germany and
Italy was announced. He resigned in January 1941,
but was appointed Minister of Defence in the
unconstitutional Cabinet formed by Rashid Ali in
April 1941. During Rashid Ali’s rebellion in May
1941 he went to Turkey to try and enlist Turkish
support for Rashid Ali’s cause. After the collapse
of the rebellion he remained in Turkey. He was
tried in absentia by court martial and sentenced to
fifteen years’ imprisonment.
In 1942 he found his way to Europe and moved
between Berlin and Rome, receiving a Minister’s
salary from the Reich Government. In 1943 it
seemed that he had taken up his residence in Rome,
where he was in touch with the ex-Mufti of
Palestine. In the summer of 1945 he was arrested
in Italy, sent back to Iraq and imprisoned.
he graduated at the Bagdad Law College. He later
returned to the army and was given rank as a senior
captain. In 1935 he attended army manoeuvres in
England. On his return he was made Commandant *
of the Iraqi Staff College. After two years in this „
post he was promoted brigadier and appointed
Assistant Chief of General Staff. He was placed
on pension in 1939 and became Minister of Defence
in the Cabinet formed by Jamil Madfai in June 1941
after the flight of Rashid Ali to Persia. He made
a pleasant if colourless Minister and resigned with
the whole Cabinet in early October 1941.
93. Najib-al-Rawi
Born about 1896. Sunni of Bagdad. Brother of
Ahmad-al-Rawi. Married to a sister of Mme. Hikmat
Sulaiman. Has for many years practised successfully
as a lawyer and in 1942 was elected president of the
Law Society. In 1940 he was suspected of being in
too close intimacy with the ex-Mufti of Palestine
(then a fugitive in Iraq) and with the Italian
Minister. He was careful, however, to avoid
becoming involved in Rashid Ali’s coup d’Etat in
1941.
Sleek and mondain, he is a prominent figure in
upper class social life in Bagdad. Elected a Deputy
in October 1943. He represented Iraq at the Arab
Lawyers’ Conference at Damascus in August 1944.
He has performed useful services for us, but %
difficult to say how trustworthy he is. He and fi'is ^
wife speak good English. She is a sister of Mme.
Hikmat Sulaiman (q-v.).
Minister of Education in Suwaidi Cabinet of 1946.
Returned to presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. of Lawyers’ Association
as soon as the former president had become Minister
for Social Affairs in the next Government but one.
94. Nasrat~al-Farisi
Lawyer of Bagdad, born about 1890. In the early
days of the Iraqi Government he held somewhat
extreme Nationalist view’s, which he voiced as a
Deputy in the Chamber. Was later given an
appointment in the Ministry of Justice, where he
served diligently for a number of years.
Minister for Finance, November 1932. Resigned
with Naji Beg Shaukat in March 1933. Appointed
Minister for Finance in Jamil Beg A1 Madfai’s
Cabinet in November 1933. Resigned in February
1934. Appointed Director-General of the Ministrv
for Foreign Affairs in April 1935. Appointed
delegate at Geneva in June 1937. r
Steady and intelligent, but inclined to be obstruc
tive.
Was relieved of this appointment in the summer
of 1938 when it w r as decided to withdraw the Iraqi
delegation from Geneva. He then returned to the
Bar.
Appointed Minister of Economics in the Cabinet
formed by Jamil-al-Madfai in June 1941. Resigned
with the rest of the Cabinet in October 1941.
Appointed Iraqi Minister at Angora in April 1943,
but did not proceed.
In June 1943 he became Foreign Minister.
Resigned in October 1943. as a protest against the
Regent’s interference in the choice of Government
candidates for election to Parliament.
Went to San Francisco in 1945 as a member of
the Iraqi delegation. Speaks excellent English, but
still takes lessons to keep himself up to date.
In the Parliament of 1947 he has spoken much on
financial questions for the Opposition.
»
ft
92. Nadhif Shawi
Born Bagdad about 1890. Educated in Military
College, Constantinople, and the Turkish Staff
College. Served in Turkish army until the end of
the war 1914-18. He joined King Feisal’s army in
Syria and fought at Maisalun, where Feisal was
-defeated by the French. He then returned to
Bagdad and for some years was employed as a
teacher in the secondary schools. During this period
95. Nishat-al-Sanawi <
Sunni of Bagdad, born 1893. Studied in the
School of Law, Constantinople. He was in Bagdad
before the occupation, w T ent to Mosul with the Turks,
and was employed in various capacities there.
Returned after the armistice and took service under
the British Administration. Was appointed Director
of the Law r School w’hen it was reopened in 1919;
criminal magistrate, February 1922; judge in the