Battat, Reuben

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BATTAT, REUBEN

BATTAT, REUBEN (1882–1962), Iraqi jurist. Battat studied law in Baghdad and in Constantinople and served as judge in various courts of Iraq. In 1923 as judge in Basra, he handed down a decision in favor of transferring the property of the Jewish philanthropist Gourji Shemtov to the Keren Hayesod. That decision was used against him in 1949, when he was tried by a military tribunal on charges of being a Zionist and sentenced to three years imprisonment. He was, however, released after four months. From 1924 Battat represented the Jews of Iraq for several terms in parliament; he was also one of the supporters of the Zionist organization in Baghdad. Before 1936 he published an important work about the constitution of the kingdom of Iraq (in Arabic). He died in Switzerland.

bibliography:

Hed ha-Mizraḥ (Oct. 5, 1945).

[Haim J. Cohen]