Abd al-Khaliq al-Samarra'i ( ar, عبد الخالق السامرائي) was an Iraqi Ba'athist politician and leading member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Iraq. He was a member of the Regional Command from 1964 to 1973, and considered a serious rival of

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

for leadership of the civilian faction of the Ba'ath Party. He was arrested in 1973 for his alleged involvement in a plot to overthrow the government, and executed in 1979 by Hussein.

Biography

He was born in the city of

Samarra Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional ar ...

into a wealthy family in 1935 and received a

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

there. His father sent him to finish high school and university in Baghdad. He became a member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Iraq in 1952, the Iraqi Regional Command in 1964, the National Command in 1968 and the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) in 1969. In 1972, he was Chairman of the Cultural Bureau of the RCC. During the 1966 Ba'ath Party split, al-Samarra'i sided with

Michel Aflaq Michel Aflaq ( ar, ميشيل عفلق, Mīšīl ʿAflaq‎, , 9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociology, sociologist and Arab nationalism, Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development o ...

. Throughout his tenureship, he was

's most notable contender for the leadership of the civilian faction, and was considered the third most powerful man in Iraq by observers. By 1973, al-Samarra'i had become a focal point for those Ba'athists who still believed in the tenets of

Ba'athism Ba'athism, also stylized as Baathism, (; ar, البعثية ' , from ' , meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection" Hans Wehr''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th ed.), page 80) is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation ...

, and did not wish to follow blindly the rule of

Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr ' (1 July 1914 – 4 October 1982) was the fourth president of Iraq, from 17 July 1968 to 16 July 1979. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and later the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and it ...

. In 1973, he became implicated in

Nazim Kazzar Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who w ...

's plot to overthrow the government. Following the failed coup attempt al-Samarra'i was found guilty of anti-state activities and arrested. There are several who doubt al-Samarra'i's involvement in the failed coup. Even so, al-Bakr never ratified his death sentence, and al-Samarra'i lived in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use addit ...

until 1979. The reason that his execution was stayed was that Aflaq and

Kamal Jumblatt Kamal Fouad Jumblatt ( ar, كمال فؤاد جنبلاط; 6 December 1917 – 16 March 1977) was a Lebanese politician who founded the Progressive Socialist Party. He led the National Movement during the civil war against the Lebanese Front. ...

, the leader of Lebanon’s National Front, campaigned actively against giving him a death sentence. Even so, in August 1979, Saddam executed al-Samarra'i along with others who Saddam claimed were members of a conspiracy to overthrow the government.

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* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samarra'i, Abd al-Khaliq Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region People from Samarra Government ministers of Iraq 1935 births 1979 deaths Iraqi Arab nationalists