Abdul Fattah Ismail

Abd al-Fattah Ismail Ali Al-Jawfi (1939– 13 January 1986) (Arabic: عبد الفتاح إسماعيل علي الجوفي ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Ismāʿīl‎) was the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Council, head of state of South Yemen, and founder, chief ideologue, and first leader of the Yemeni Socialist Party from 21 December 1978 to 21 April 1980. He was summarily executed on 13 January 1986 along with three others, allegedly for "plotting to overthrow" Ali Nasir Muhammad's regime.^[1]

Biography

Born in July 1939 in the Hugariah district (Taiz) of North Yemen, he was educated in Aden, where he subsequently worked in an oil refinery from 1957 to 1961 as an apprentice. As a co-founder of the Arab Nationalist Movement in South Yemen, he contributed to the formation of a number of Movement cells before he was arrested by the British authorities in Aden for political incitement of workers.

In 1961 he became a school teacher in one of the Aden districts, and at the same time continuing political activity. He was a co-founder of the National Front for the Liberation of South Yemen (NLF). After the NLF started the 14 October 1963 Revolution for the liberation of South Yemen from British colonial rule, Ismail became a full-time revolutionary, whereby he undertook the leadership of the NLF underground military wing (fedayeen) in Aden, as well as political activity.

He was elected to the NLF executive in the first, second and third NLF congresses, 1965-67. After South Yemen gained independence in 1967 he was appointed Minister of Culture and Yemeni Unity. In the fourth NLF congress he was instrumental in determining the progressive line of the revolution. But in March 1968 he was arrested by the right wing of the NLF and went into exile, where he drafted the program for Accomplishing National Democratic Liberation, a leftist manifesto. He undertook a leading role in the consolidation of left wing of NLF which subsequently regained power in the 22 June 1969 "Correction Step."

Subsequent to the "Correction Step" Ismail was elected Secretary General of the NLF Central Committee, and a member of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Council. In 1970 he was elected Chairman of Presidium. He undertook a leading role in the dialogue between NLF and other left parties in south Yemen leading to the formation of the Yemen Socialist Party (YSP). He was elected Secretary General of the YSP in the first party congress in October 1978.

In 1980 he resigned from all his posts for health reasons and was succeeded by Ali Nasser Muhammad. However, Ismail was appointed president of the party before he went to Moscow for medical treatment, until 1985, when he returned in the face of a mounting crisis between Ali Nasser Muhammad and his opponents in the YSP.

In October 1985 he was elected to the YSP Politburo and as a Secretary of the Central Committee, but the crisis had erupted on January 13, 1986, into a violent struggle in Aden between Ali Nasir's supporters and opponents. (See South Yemen Civil War) Fighting lasted for more than a month and resulted in thousands of casualties, Ali Nasir's ouster, and Ismail's mysterious disappearance. He was apparently killed when naval forces loyal to Ali Nasir shelled Aden.^[2]

References

Heads of state of Yemen North Yemen Kings (1918–1962); Presidents (1962–1990) Yahya* Ahmad Muhammad al-Badr as-Sallal al-Iryani al-Hamadi al-Ghashmi al-Arashi Saleh South Yemen (1967–1990) al-Shaabi Rubai A. N. Muhammad Ismail A. N. Muhammad al-Attas Republic of Yemen President (1990–) Saleh Hadi al-Houthi *imam until 1926

References

In English

• Russian political detective series (2006) after A.Konstantinov's novel "The Journalist" (1996) with its fictionalized version of the events

In Arabic

• Anaween Thaqafiya magazine
• Salah Abdul Fattah interview in 26 September, April 27, 2006