Yasin al-Hashimi

Who was Yasin al-Hashimi?

Yasin al-Hashimi was an Iraqi politician who served twice as that country's prime minister. Like many of Iraq's early leaders, Hashimi, who was born Yasin Hilmi Salman, served as an officer during Ottoman control of the country. He made his political debut under the government of his predecessor, Jafar al-Askari and replaced Askari as prime minister shortly after, in August 1924.

Hashimi served for ten months before he was replaced, in turn by Abd al-Muhsin as-Sa'dun. Over the next ten years he filled a variety of governmental positions finally returning to the office of prime minister in 1935. On October 30, 1936 Hashimi had the dubious distinction of being the first Iraqi prime minister deposed in a coup, led by General Bakr Sidqi and a coalition of ethnic minorities. Unlike Jafar al-Askari, who was then his minister of defense, Hashimi survived the coup and made his way to Damascus, Syria, where he died two months later. His older brother, Taha was Prime Minister of Iraq in 1941.