On this date in 1958, Nuri al-Said, the Prime Minister of Iraq’s deposed Hashemite monarchy, was captured trying to flee Iraq in disguise, and immediately slaughtered
A onetime Ottoman officer turned veteran of the Arab Revolt under the eventual King Faisal I, Nuri al-Said (or as-Said) was a preeminent politician for much of the Kingdom of Iraq era and practically the personification of Baghdad’s pro-British posture.
A figure of wide popular loathing — crowds chanted for his death at the funeral of King Ghazi in 1939, attributing the young ruler’s untimely death to Nuri’s hand — he had managed to escape the 14 July Revolution‘s initial hours and had one last night on the lam to contemplate the terrible fate of the royal family that he served.
He was not destined to avoid it.
Captured in disguise the next day and put to summary death, after which the mob vented its fury upon him.
On this day..
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- 1857: Danforth Hartson, again
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- 1381: John Ball, radical priest
- 1936: Charlotte Bryant
- 756: Yang Guifei, favored concubine
- 1883: Leoncio Prado, for defending his homeland
- 1927: Three persistent escapees
- 1907: Qiu Jin, Chinese feminist and revolutionary
- 1953: John Christie, a little late in the day
- 1977: Princess Misha'al bint Fahd al Saud and her lover
- Themed Set: The Feminine Mystique
- 1685: James Scott, Duke of Monmouth