"ملف ١١/ ٤٤ الشخصيات الرائدة في العراق وإيران والمملكة العربية السعودية" [و‎‎٣‎١] (٩٦/٦١)

21
ever any real evidence against him. Elected Deputy
for Amarah, December 1937.
Lost his seat in June 1939. Reappointed to the
Diplomatic Service in June 1939 and sent as charge
d’affaires to Berlin. Returned to Bagdad October
1939, and was appointed Assistant Director-General
in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in the
unconstitutional Cabinet formed by Rashid Ali in
April 1941. His polished and friendly manner hid
a close and sinister co-operation with Rashid Ali in
his pro-Nazi intrigues. On the collapse of Rashid
Ali’s rebellion in May 1941, he fled to Persia and was
handed over to the British military authorities in
September 1941. Imprisoned at Ahwaz and thence
sent to Southern Rhodesia for internment. Sent
back to stand his trial with internees in March 1944.
Sentence was finally passed on him, in August
1944, of five years hard labour and sequestration of
all his property. Now an invalid.
87. Muzahim-al-Amin Pachachi
Sunni of Bagdad. Born 1888, a lawyer. Elected
Deputy for Hillah in the Constituent Assembly,
March 1924, and sat in the first Chamber in 1925.
Minister of Communications and Works in the
Hashimi Cabinet, August 1924. In 1927, while in
^I^yidon, he made a close study of British politics,
^^ealled to Bagdad in February 1928 and joined the
active Nationalists. His ideas seemed to be tinged
with communism. Was prominent in anti-Zionist
manifestations in summer of 1929. Became Minister
of Economics and Communications in January 1931,
and, shortly after, Minister of the Interior, in which
post he unexpectedly gave satisfaction to his British
advisers. Resigned in October 1931 on account of a
difference with his colleagues regarding his dismissal
of the Amin-al-Asimah. Towards the end of May
1932 he was charged with complicity in the
circulation of scurrilous anonymous letters, making
allegations against the personal honour of the King.
Resigned his seat in the Chamber and was committed
for trial with four others by Bagdad magistrate’s
court. Acquitted in October 1932. In October 1934
he was appointed Minister at Rome and permanent
delegate at Geneva. In November 1935 he was
relieved of his duties at Geneva. Appointed Minister
at Paris in July 1939.
^Remained in France as Minister to the A ichy
^%vernment after the collapse of I ranee in 1940.
Recalled in November 1941, when Iraq severed
relations with the Vichy Government, but did not
return to Iraq. In 1943 he appeared to be living in
Rome. Later he went to Geneva and sought but was
refused facilities to return to Iraq.
Eventually returned in November 1945.
He is now said to be working with the Opposition
group of Hikmat Sulaiman and Jamil IMadfai.
He is very deaf.
88. Mustafa-al-Umari
Sunni of the Umari family of Mosul. Born 1893.
Graduated in Law School in Bagdad just before the
war. Served as an officer in the Turkish forces
fighting in Mesopotamia during the war and was
made a prisoner just before the fall of Bagdad.
Returned to Iraq after the armistice and entered
Government service. Since then he has served in
the Waqf Department and in the Ministries of
Finance and Interior. His posts included the
following: kaimakam in several districts. Accountant
General, Director-General of the Ministry of the
Interior and mutessarif in a number of liwas. In
1936 he was appointed Mutessarif of the Muntafiq
liwa and in June 1937 he joined Hikmat Sulaiman s
Cabinet as Minister of the Interior. He retained this
portfolio in the Cabinet formed by Jamil Madfai in
August 1937.
During the first half of 1938 he acquired a reputa
tion for taking large bribes, and, though no allegations
were proved, the Prime Minister thought it well to
transfer him to another Ministry'. He accordingly
went to Justice in October 1938. In December 1938
he resigned with the whole of Jamil-al-Madfai s
Cabinet after the military demonstration organised
by Husain Fauzi and Taha-al-Hashimi in favour of
Nuri-al-Said. He is a Senator.
Appointed Minister of Interior in the Cabinet
formed by Jamil-al-Madfai in June 1941. Resigned
with the rest of the Cabinet in October 1941. Since
then he has been a prominent speaker in the debates
of the Senate, and has been a constant critic of Nuri
Said’s Administration. Became Minister of the
Interior in the Cabinet of Hamdi-al-Pachachi formed
in J une 1944.
He has the reputation of being corrupt, but he is
certainly an able administrator and has as compre
hensive a knowledge of the north as anyone. He put
this to good use during the Barzani troubles of 1945,
when his well-directed bribery made possible the
victory of the Iraqi army.
89. Dr. Nadim bin Shakir al Pachachi
Born Bagdad 1914. Muslim, Sunni; nephew of
Hamdi al Pachachi, late Prime Minister, and of
Muzahim al Pachachi, late Iraqi Minister in Paris
(q.v.).
Educated at Bagdad and London School of
Economics. Returned to Bagdad in 1938 on com
pleting his studies and was appointed to the
Ministry of Economics, of which he is now Director-
General. He has a civil service outlook and has
never figured in politics.
Went with the Iraqi delegation to the General
Assembly of U.N.O. in London, where he took the
opportunity of searching for British experts to advise
his Ministry in certain matters (e.g., co-operative
farming) in which he is anxious to see reform and
progress—less perhaps from a disinterested love of
the working classes than because he believes that to
raise their standard of living is the best defence
against discontent and communism.
Speaks excellent English.
He had already left Bagdad as a member of the
Iraqi delegation to the Sterling Balance talks in
London in June 1947 when he was recalled from
Cairo. No reason was given officially but some con
nected his recall with his recent divorce of his wife
and marriage with a cabaret artiste. His position
as Director-General of Economics remains outwardly
unaffected but his conduct has done him no good.
90. Dr. Naji-al-Asil
Bagdadi, born 1895. First became prominent in
1922 as semi-official Hashimite representative in
London. Continued to represent Hashimite interests
in London until final conquest of the Hejaz by Ibn
Saud. Dr. Naji then became destitute in England,
and was deported to Iraq in October 1925. In Iraq
he was soon employed under the Ministry of Defence
in the Iraqi Military Medical Service. Appointed
Iraqi Consul-General and Charge d’Affaires in Jedda
in August 1931. Returned to Bagdad in June 1932
to be present during the visit of the Amir Feisal, son
of King Abdul Aziz-al-Saud. Appointed consul,
Mohammerah, October 1932. Acting Director-
General in the -Ministry for Foreign Affairs. April
1933. Appointed counsellor in the Legation at
Tehran, April 1935.
In June 1936, while on leave in Bagdad, he was
appointed Master of Ceremonies at the palace, and
accepted the portfolio of Foreign Affairs when
Hikmat Sulaiman formed his Cabinet in October
1936. Resigned with Hikmat Sulaiman in August
1937, and was not included in the Cabinet formed
bv Jamil-al-Madfai.
Appointed Director-General of Antiquities in 1944