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Muzahim al-Pachachi (1890 – 1982), Iraqi politician and diplomat, was born to a well-to-do family and graduated from the Baghdad School of Law. He organized the Arab nationalist Cultural Club in Baghdad in 1912; its members included Talib al-Naqib, Hamdi al-Pachachi, and Muhammad Ridha. He worked for the British occupation forces after they entered Baghdad in 1917, first as a translator and then as a lawyer. In 1924, al-Pachachi was elected a member of the Constituent Assembly, charged with drafting the Constitution of Iraq. He held a number of cabinet and diplomatic positions. He served as minister of works (1924-25) before becoming a member of parliament (1925-27). He was appointed ambassador to Britain (1927-28) and was briefly minister of the interior (1930). Al-Pachachi opposed the 1930 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty because it failed to meet nationalist demands. He held a succession of ambassadorial posts: ambassador to the League of Nations (1933-35), to Italy (1935-39), and to France (1939-42). During the occupation of France in World War II, al-Pachachi stayed in Switzerland. He became active in the 1930s and 1940s in pro-Palestinian activities and opposed the 1948 United Nations truce in Palestine. In June 1948, he became prime minister, but his cabinet fell in January 1949. He was later appointed deputy prime minister (1949-50) and minsiter of foreign affairs (1949-50). Al-Pachachi opposed the 1951 law that allowed Iraqi Jews to leave the country, although he himself left Iraq that year, returning after the 1958 revolution. His son Adnan later served as a cabinet minister and diplomat.
[edit] References
- Ghareeb, Edmund A. Historical Dictionary of Iraq, pp. 179-80. Scarecrow Press, 2004, ISBN 0810843307.
