Rashid Ali el-Ghalani

Rashid Ali el-Ghalani (1882–1965),Iraqi lawyer who co-founded the Muslim Brotherhood. This party opposed the Anglo-Iraqi treaty of 1930 which came into force after Iraq became independent in 1932. Backed by the ‘Golden Square’, a pro-Axis military junta of four colonels who were concerned that the pro-British party, led by Nuri al-Said, might bring Iraq into the war on the British side, Rashid Ali became prime minister, for the third time, in April 1941. He immediately broke the Anglo-Iraqi treaty by refusing the transit of British troops through Iraq and evidence mounted that he was receiving German support via the Vichy French regime in Syria. In May 1941 his supporters attacked the British air base at Habbaniya, but in the fighting which followed he was forced to flee to Persia. He ended up in Germany as a leading Arab collaborator and propagandist for the Nazis, remaining in exile until 1958. See also anti-imperialism.