''Ittihad ash-Sha'ab'' ( ar, اتحاد الشعب, 'Unity of the People') was a daily newspaper published from Baghdad, Iraq. It was the main organ of the

Iraqi Communist Party The Iraqi Communist Party ( ar, الحزب الشيوعي العراقي '; ku, Partiya Komunista Iraqê حزبی شیوعی عێراق) is a communist party and the oldest active party in Iraq. Since its foundation in 1934, it has dominated the ...

.
Middle East Record 1960
'. London: published for the Israel Oriental Society, the Reuven Shiloah Research Center. pp. xxvi, 230,239,240,243 Abd al-Qadir Isma'il al-Bustani was the editor-in-chief of the paper which had a circulation of 15,000 copies. The newspaper began circulating secretly sometime in 1956, After the minor splinter group of

Daud as-Sayegh Daud as-Sayegh was an Iraqi communist politician. As-Sayegh was a Christian lawyer from Mosul. He joined and left the Iraqi Communist Party several times during the 1940s and 1950s.Gabbay, Rony. Communism and agrarian reform in Iraq'. p. 97 As-Say ...

had been accorded the legal recognition of the name 'Iraqi Communist Party' in early 1960, the mainstream (and un-recognized) Iraqi Communist Party became informally known as the 'Ittihad ash-Sha'ab Party'. On 15 February 1960, the party sought legal recognition under the

Associations Law The Associations Law was a law in Iraq, which legally regulated political parties. The law was promulgated on 1 January 1960. Prior to the adoption of this law, political parties had been banned since 1954. The law came into force on 6 January 19 ...

under the name 'People's Unity Party' (i.e. Ittihad ash-Sha'ab Party), but this application was rejected by the Ministry of Interior. During 1960, ''Ittihad ash-Sha'ab'' and other publications of the mainstream Communist Party were targeted by the Abd al-Karim Qasim government. In March 1960 Brigadier Sayyid Hamid Sayyid Hussein issued an order prohibiting the circulation of ''Ittihad ash-Sha'ab'' in seven districts of southern Iraq. From June 1960, distribution of ''Ittihad ash-Sha'ab'' was restricted in half of Iraq (including major cities) through security restrictions and harassment by police forces.Ismael, Tareq Y. (2008).
The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq
'. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 100 On 30 September 1960 the newspaper was closed down for a period of ten months. Next month it was banned by the government. Abd al-Qadir Isma'il al-Bustani was sentenced to three months imprisonment (Qasim did, however, order his release the day after the sentence had been issued). Abd al-Jabbar Wahbi, another member of the ''Ittihad ash-Sha'ab'' editorial board, was placed under house arrest in Ramadi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ittihad ash Shaab 1956 establishments in Iraq 1960 disestablishments in Iraq Arabic communist newspapers Communist newspapers published in Iraq Defunct newspapers published in Iraq Iraqi Communist Party Mass media in Baghdad Newspapers established in 1956 Publications disestablished in 1960 Banned newspapers