Tahir Yahya

Who was Tahir Yahya?

Tahir Yahya was Prime Minister of Iraq twice, from 1963 to 1965 and a short term in 1967-1968. He was educated at the Baghdad Military College and the Staff College. Born in Tikrit 1916. He was the 4th child to Mulla Yahya el-ogaily, a prominent tobacco merchant between North and Central Iraq. At the age of sixteen, he joined the Baghdad Teachers College, then became a teacher in Baghdad for one year after graduation. He then pursued further education in military sciences. He was a cavalry officer and played polo for the Iraqi army. He led the Iraqi armored company in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, where he was wounded in the battle at the kibbutz of Gesher, earning two medals bestowed by Crown Prince Abd al-Ilāh.

At the end of his term, Yahya warned president Arif of the upcoming Ba'ath coup d'état and their plans to overthrow his government, but Arif did not take any action. This led to Yahya submitting his resignation on 8 July 1968, one week before the coup d'état took place. That same morning Yahya was arrested and Arif was deported to London.

Yahya's spent three years of prison, torture, and health neglect. In 1971 he was released, only to be put under house arrest until dying in his house in Mansur, Baghdad 1986.