Prince Akram Shammaa Al Zengi (Mohammad Akram Bin Mostafa Bin Mohammad Shammaa Al Zengi III; Arabic: محمد اكرم شماع بن مصطفى بن محمد شماع الزنكي; August 8, 1930 – June 9, 2012) was a Prince of Al

Zengid Dynasty The Zengid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turkic origin, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia on behalf of the Seljuk Empire and eventually seized control of Egypt in 1169. In 1174 the Zengid state extended from Tripoli to ...

. He was a politician, lawyer and real estate investor. He was a descendant of the Zengid Dynasty that ruled

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and parts of

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

between 1127 and 1234

Early life

Prince Akram was the second son of Mostafa Shammaa Al Zengi the 4th son Prince Mohammad Shammaa Al Zengi III. Prince Akram began his schooling at The Islamic college before going to the law school at

University of Damascus The University of Damascus ( ar, جَامِعَةُ دِمَشْقَ, ''Jāmi‘atu Dimashq'') is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus and has campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 through ...

, he graduated in 1964. Prince Akram was an activist in the civil rights movement and an opposition leader. He opposed the Military regimes that stamped the era of the Syrian history between the 1950s and 1970s including Adib al-Shishakli,

Husni al-Za'im Husni al-Za'im ( ar, حسني الزعيم ''Ḥusnī az-Za’īm''; 11 May 1897 – 14 August 1949) was a Syrian military officer and politician of Kurdish origin. Husni al-Za'im, had been an officer in the Ottoman Army. After France institute ...

and

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1 ...

Career

He worked as a lawyer between 1964 and 1967 when he was banned from practicing law after suing the Syrian government for seizing the family assets in 1947. Between 1971 and 1982 he worked in the textile industry in Lebanon. Afterwards he was allowed to return to Syria and since then he is working as an investor in the real estate field.

Political career

In 1953 he organized and led the protests against President Adib al-Shishakli. In 1967 after the family negotiations collapsed with the Syrian government, Prince Akram filed many cases against the Syrian government dominated by Al Baath party and its prime minister Yusuf Zuaiyin, for ceasing the family assets and feudal properties that were loaned to the Islamic endowment (الاوقاف) since 1856; later on the case expanded to include suing the totalitarian government for corruption, dictatorship and extortion of Syrian citizens, he was kidnapped by the Syrian intelligence system

mukhabarat ( ar, مخابرات, also transliterated '' / ''), is the Arabic term for intelligence, as used by an intelligence agency. In most of the Middle East, the term is colloquially used in reference to secret police agents who spy on civilians. Organi ...

and according to his own memos he was demanded to drop the cases and end the protests and in exchange for his silence and cooperation he was offered a position as a Mayor of Aleppo or the Ministry of Justice in the government. When he refused he was tortured, expelled from the Syrian bar association and exiled to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. In Lebanon he continued to be an activist in the political field and in 1971 he played a pivotal role in the preparation of the bloodless coup d'état ( Corrective Revolution) bringing

to power. It was directed against a dominant ultra-leftwing faction of the party, and to some extent provoked by what Assad and his supporters saw as adventurous and irresponsible foreign policies (notably the Syrian intervention in the Black September conflict in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, after which the Black September Palestinian faction was named). As a result of the coup, de facto leader

Salah Jadid Salah Jadid (1926 – 19 August 1993, ar, صلاح جديد, Ṣalāḥ Jadīd) was a Syrian general, a leader of the left-wing of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Syria, and the country's ''de facto'' leader from 1966 until 1970, when h ...

was ousted and the party was purged. Later, he clashed with the president's brother

Rifaat al-Assad Rifaat Ali al-Assad ( ar, رِفْعَتُ عَلِيِّ ٱلْأَسَدِ, Rifʿat al-ʾAsad; born 22 August 1937) is the younger brother of the late President of Syria, Hafez Assad, and Jamil al-Assad, and the uncle of the incumbent President ...

who was the head of the elite internal security forces and the 'Defence Companies' (Saraya al-Difaa) because according to him they exploited the revolution and not only it didn't lead to the elimination of the dictatorial government shaped by years of unstable military rule, and lately organized along one-party lines after the Baathist coup. But also enabled

and his surrounding elite to increase repression and secure domination of every sector of society through a vast web of police informers and agents. Under his rule, Syria turned genuinely

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...

. He stayed in Lebanon until 1982 when the

Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

broke; he was allowed to return to Syria but was banned of practicing any political or judicial activities.

Marriage and family

In 1967 he married Maysa Morjan. They have one son and two daughters. His son is Prince Riam Shammaa Al Zengi.

Titles

* 13 January 1954: Prince of Zengid Dynasty. *6 June 1960: Head of Zengi House

Ancestry

Via his Paternal grandfather, Prince Akram is descended from Prince Imad ad-Din Atabeg Zengi, Nur ad-Din Zengi, As-Salih Ismail al-Malik and Imad ad-Din Zengi II.*

Amin Maalouf Amin Maalouf (; ar, أمين معلوف; born 25 February 1949) is a Lebanese-born French"Amin ...

, ''The Crusades Through Arab Eyes'', 1985