1978: Salim Rubai Ali, President of South Yemen
June 26th, 2019 Headsman
On this date in 1978, the South Yemen president Salim Rubai Ali was executed after an attempted self-coup.
The very first president of the short-lived (1967-1990) polity, Salim had been an anti-colonial fighter in the National Liberation Front but had his reservations about his coalition partner’s tilt towards the Soviet model and figured he wouldn’t mind being solely in charge.
He attempted in June 1978 to seize power against other top coalition officials; Ali Nasir Muhammad, who is still an important political figure in unified Yemen to this day, overthrew the short-lived putsch and executed the former boss.
On this day..
- 1919: John Hartfield lynched - 2020
- 1685: Richard Rumbold, owner of the Rye House - 2018
- 1917: Dragutin "Apis" Dimitrijevic, of the Black Hand - 2017
- 925: Feast Day of St. Pelagius - 2016
- 1621: Christenze Kruckow, philanthropic witch - 2015
- 2014: Masanori Kawasaki - 2014
- 1668: A Dutch suicide, posthumously gibbeted - 2013
- 1943: Marianne Elise Kurchner condemned for a joke - 2012
- 1944: Krystyna Wituska, thanks to a bad romance - 2011
- 1885: James Arcene, the youngest juvenile offender hanged in the US? - 2010
- 1574: Gabriel de Lorges, accidental regicide - 2009
- 1979: Two former dictators of Ghana with four of their aides - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Execution,Heads of State,History,No Formal Charge,Politicians,Power,Shot,Summary Executions,Yemen
Tags: 1970s, 1978, ali nasir muhammad, june 26, salim rubai ali
