'File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia' [‎24v] (48/96)

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29. Alt Jaudat
Sunni, of humble Mosul origin. Born 1886.
Officer in the Turkish army, fought at Shuaibah;
subsequently surrendered to the British and spent
most of 1915 at Basra. Was there employed to
encourage Turkish officer prisoners to join the
Sheriff. He was a member of the Ahd-al-Iraqi.
After the war he w r as Military Governor of Aleppo
after the resignation of Jafar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. early in 1920.
and was subsequently in Dair. Beturned to Bagdad
with the Amir Feisal in June 1921, and in October
1921 was given the post of Mutessarif of Hillah,
which he held till September 1922. He took a very
active part in the anti-mandate agitation, and was
finally dismissed (on the advice of the High
Commissioner) for defrauding the Treasury by under
estimating revenue demands on supporters of his
political views. In January 1923 he was appointed
Mutessarif of Karbala in the hope that he might be
able to reconcile the mujtahids. He was unsuccessful,
and in May was transferred to Muntafiq, where he
did very well. Minister of Interior in the Askari
Cabinet, November 1923-July 1924, and voted for
the treaty. Appointed Mutessarif of Diyala, and
later of Basra. In early 1930 was made Director of
the Ministry of the Interior. Minister for Finance
under Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , March 1930. Besigned from
Nuri Pasha’s Cabinet in September 1930, as a
protest against the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of that year,
and his seat in the Chamber in 1931, together with
Bashid Ali-al-Gilani and Yasin-al-Hashimi in March
1932. Be-elected for Mosul 1933. Appointed
principal private secretary to the King, March 1933.
Became Prime Minister and Acting Minister of the
Interior in August 1934. Was forced to resign in
February 1935 on account of the agitation worked
up against him throughout the country by Yasin-al-
Hashimi and Bashid Ali-al-Gilani. He was made
President of the Chamber in March 1935 and
appointed Iraqi Minister in London in August 1935.
Transferred to Paris in December 1936.
He came to Bagdad on leave in October 1937 and
decided not to return to his post at Paris.
Appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in Nuri-al-
Said’s Cabinet in April 1939. Besigned with whole
Cabinet in February 1940.
After Bashid Ali’s coup d’Etat in April 1941 he
escaped to Basra, joined the Begent and accompanied
His Highness to Jerusalem. He returned to Iraq
after the collapse of Bashid Ali’s rebellion and was
appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet
formed by Jamil Madfai in June 1941.
Besigned with the whole Cabinet in October 1941.
Has a son, Nizar, who was educated at Downing
College, Cambridge.
Appointed Iraqi Minister at Washington in March
1942.
Has interested himself in conducting propaganda
in the United States to make better known the Arab
side of the Palestine question.
He is now recovering from a serious illness in
Washington.
Speaks English.
30. A li Mahmud Shaikh A li
Born 1902. Sunni Arab connected with the Ubaid
tribe. Graduated at the Bagdad Law School in
1923 and practised as a lawyer for about thirteen
years. He also learnt to speak English and French.
He became well known as an extreme Nationalist
and contributed many articles to the newspaper the
Istiqlal attacking British policy in Iraq. He was
arrested in 1924 on account of his agitation against
the first Anglo-Iraqi Treaty, but was acquitted on
trial. He was brought before the courts again in
1930 for a similarly violent agitation against the
Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance signed in that
year and sentenced to a short term of imprison
ment. He has twice been elected to the Chamber
of Deputies. He was one of the members of the
delegation of Iraqi notables which visited Palestine
and Egypt in 1936, and a short time after his return
he was appointed (through the personal influence of
Yasin-al-Hashimi, the Prime Minister) to a judge-
ship in the Court of Appeal. In this post he has
shown more talent and good sense than was to be
expected from his past career. Appointed Minister
of Justice in Hikmat Sulaiman’s reorganised
Cabinet in June 1937. Besigned August 1937 and
returned to the Bar.
Banished from Bagdad by Jamil-al-Madfai’s
Cabinet in November 1938, but was permitted to
return when Nuri-al-Said formed a Cabinet in
December 1938. In February 1939 he was appointed
Mutessarif of Basra, where he soon began to make
trouble for the Sheikh of Koweit. After holding this
appointment for about a year he was transferred to
Bagdad to be Director-General of Customs and
Excise. As a mutessarif he allowed his political
prejudices to colour too deeply his administrative
activities.
Appointed Minister of Justice in the unconstitu
tional Cabinet formed by Bashid Ali in April 1941.
Fled to Persia with the rest of the Cabinet after the
collapse of Bashid Ali’s rebellion in May 1941.
Handed over to the British military authorities by
the Persian Government after the entry of British
forces into Persia in September 1941. Imprisoi^d
in Ahwaz and thence sent to Southern Bhodesia^>5*
internment. Sent back to Iraq and handed over to
the Iraqi court for trial in March 1942 and was
sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in the
following May.
31. Ali Mumtaz
Born 1901. Sunni of Bagdad. Belongs to the
Daftari family. Graduated at Bagdad Law College
and entered Government service in 1920. Married
a daughter of Yasin-al-Hashimi in 1933. Appointed
Director-General of Bevenues in 1935, but was
obliged to leave Iraq for a time when Bakr Sidqi
overthrew Yasin-al-Hashimi’s Government in 1936.
In January 1939 he was reappointed Director-
General of Bevenues by Nuri-al-Said’s Cabinet.
Appointed Minister of Finance in the Cabinet
formed by Taha al Hashimi in February 1941.
Besigned with the ■whole Cabinet in April after
Bashid Ali’s coup d’Etat. In May 1941 he was
appointed director of the newly-created Bafid^
Bank, and in October he became Minister of Finance
in the Cabinet formed by Nuri-al-Said.
Besigned in October 1942 largely on account of his
inability to get on with Saleh Jabr, then Minister of
the Interior.
Made Minister of Finance in Nuri Pasha’s ninth
Cabinet in December 1943. Headed Iraqi delegation
to Middle East Financial Conference in April 1944.
Besigned with the whole of Nuri Pasha’s Cabinet in
June 1944.
Minister of Communications and Works in the
Suweidi Cabinet of 1946. When this resigned he
was partly responsible for the calculated leakage to
the press of a Cabinet memorandum advocating
drastic revision of the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty. He is
efficient but has not shown himself very straight
forward.
A member of the Liberal Party formed in 1945
which withdrew at the last moment from the 1947
elections alleging undue interference by the Begent
and the Government of Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. .
Speaks good English.
32. Ali Shukur
President of the Bailway Labour Union (now
illegal). An ex-engine driver of radical outlook who
was dismissed from the Iraqi State Bailways at the
end of 1944. Became President of the Union in
November 1944 and was active in promoting the