Biography

The lawyer Jirjis Fathallah Shammas, known as Jirjis Fathallah the lawyer, was born in the city of Mosul in the year 1920, of Chaldean nationality and Catholic Christian religion. He completed his primary, intermediate, and preparatory stages of education in the city of Mosul. He was accepted in the year 1939 into the Law Department at the Baghdad College of Law, and he obtained his bachelor's degree in the year 1943. He practiced the legal profession for a period of time. In the year 1971, he left for Lebanon and resided there. In the year 1975, after the setback of Aylul Revolution he took refuge in Iran. In the month of August 1979, after the victory of the revolution of the peoples of Iran and the tension of the Iranian situation, he requested political asylum in Britain. He also headed to the Swedish Kingdom and resided there as a refugee.

He died in Erbil on the date of 23 July 2006 and was buried in the Ankawa cemetery near Erbil. He was fluent in the languages (Syriac, Arabic, English, French, Kurdish, Swedish, and Persian).

 Struggle Pages 

He became associated with the organizations of the Iraqi Independence Party in the year 1946. He was one of the founders of the People's Party in the year 1946 and the concessionaire of the Al-Rawafid newspaper in the Arabic language. He assumed the responsibility of the Mosul branch of the People's Party in the year 1947. He joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the year 1948. On 4 June 1956, he was the concessionaire of the Al-Ra'id newspaper in Arabic, which was issued from the city of Mosul and was closed on 14 July 1958 by the military authorities. On 7 May 1959, he was the concessionaire and editor-in-chief of the newspaper (Al-Haqiqa – Rasti), which was issued in the city of Mosul in both Arabic and Kurdish languages, and it was closed on 3 April 1960 after the issuance of its 24th issue by the government of the Republic of Iraq. In the month of January 1959, he supported the list of teachers of the Iraqi Communist Party in the elections of the Teachers' Union of Iraq in the city of Mosul. He had a role in organizing the demonstrations of the Partisans of Peace in the year 1959 in the city of Mosul, which were organized by the Iraqi Communist Party. He also had a role in suppressing the coup of Colonel Abdul Wahab Al-Shawaf (1916-1959) in the city of Mosul.

 In the year 1959, he was a member of the editorial board of the Khabat newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Iraq. In the year 1960, he practiced the legal profession in the city of Mosul. In the year 1961, when the Aylul Revolution broke out, he participated with the engineer Shawkat, known as Shawkat Akrayi, in issuing the Khabat newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, secretly in Baghdad. In the year 1961, he was arrested by the Iraqi government authorities and was placed in the Ramadi prison in western Iraq. In the same year, he was released from prison and included in the amnesty, and he resumed issuing the Khabat newspaper again. On 9 June 1963, when he was an advisor to the delegation for the negotiations of the First People's Congress (Koysinjaq Congress) with the Baghdad regime, he was arrested by the National Guard militias affiliated with the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and was subjected to torture.     

In the year 1968, he was a member of the editorial board of the Al-Kadir magazine and the Al-Ta'akhi newspaper, and the second editor-in-chief of the Al-Ta'akhi newspaper in the Arabic language. In the year 1968, he joined the ranks of the Peshmerga forces of the Aylul Revolution. In the year (1968-1969), he was a professor of the subject of scientific, political, and contemporary Iraqi historical principles in the first session of the Institute for Preparing Revolution Teachers. In the year (1968-1969), he was a professor of the subject of Iraq's affairs and situation in the first session of the School for Preparing Cadres of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the village of Choman within the liberated areas in Erbil Governorate. In the year 1969, he was a professor of the subject of political science in the second session of the School for Preparing Cadres of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the village of Nawpirdan within the liberated areas in Erbil Governorate. On 12 June 1970, by order of the leader Mustafa Barzani(1903-1979), he became a member of the delegation of the Kurdistan Democratic Party to visit the city of Najaf in western Iraq for the purpose of participating in the funeral council held for the death of the senior Shia authority in the world, Grand Ayatollah Abdul Mohsen Al-Hakim (1889-1970). On 25 June 1970, the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, by a subsequent order, cancelled the order of the Military Court in Mosul that was issued against him. In the year 1970, he was elected as an alternate member of the Central Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party by the delegates of the 8th Congress. In July 1970 until November 1970, he was a professor of the subject of the geography of Iraq in the third session of the School for Preparing Cadres of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the city of Baghdad. In the year 1970, he was arrested and tortured by the authorities of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and imprisoned in the Qasr al-Nihaya for seventy days against the backdrop of his writing an article on the occasion of the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970) in the Al-Ta'akhi newspaper. After his travel to Lebanon in 1973, he was imprisoned for a period by the Lebanese intelligence apparatus. In (1973-1974), he was assigned by order of President Masoud Barzani as a member of the committee for preparing and writing the draft for the Kurdistan Region federation. In the year 1974, he was one of the founders of the Kurdish Red Crescent. In the year 1974, he was a professor of the subject of the curriculum and internal regulations of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the sixth session of the School for Preparing Cadres of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the village of Zanwi Sheikhi in Erbil Governorate. In (1974-1975), he was the editor-in-chief of the Al-Kadir magazine and the Khabat newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. He returned to Kurdistan on 25 April 1999 and was received by the President of the Kurdistan National Council, the lawyer Gawhar Namiq Salim(1946-2011) in the city of Erbil. On Sunday 15 October 2000, he was received by the President of the Kurdistan National Council, Dr. Roj Nuri Siddiq, known as Roj Nuri Shawis. On 3-5 April 2001, he participated in the First Academic Conference on Kirkuk in the Culture Hall in the city of Erbil, where he delivered a speech. 

From his works:

 1. Lights on the Assyrian Cause - 1933.

2. The Historical Origins of the Global Labor Movement - 1946.

3. Toppling the Rule Does Not Happen Like This - 1990.

4. The Kuwait Adventure, Face and Background - 1991, in two volumes.

5. War Crimes and Their Perpetrators in Iraq and Kuwait - 1992.

6. Assyrian Studies: A History of What History Neglected - 1997.

7. A Visit to the Recent Past - 1998.

8. The Beginning of the Spread of Christianity in Mesopotamia. Four volumes.

9. Kurdistan or Death - (First Edition - 1986), (Second Edition - 2012), translation.

 10. On War Crimes and Crimes Against Peace and Genocide - (Second Edition - 2004).

11. The Cradle of Humanity - (First Edition - 1971), (Third Edition - 2001), (Fourth Edition - 2010), (Fifth Edition - 2012), translation.

 12. South Kurdistan - (Second Edition - 1999), (Third Edition - 2001), (Fourth Edition - 2012), translation.

13. Republic of Mahabad - (First Edition - 1972), (Second Edition - 2012), translation.

 14. Iraq in the Era of Qasim - 2012, translation in two volumes.

 15. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - 2012, translation in two volumes.

 16. Views on Arab Nationalism - 2012, in five volumes.

 17. Lives - 2005, translation in three volumes.

 18. Men and Events in the Balance - 2012.

19. Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini - 2012, translation.

 20. Two Studies on the Margin of the Revolution of Sheikh Ubaydullah al-Nahri - (First edition - 2000), (Second edition - 2010), (Third edition - 2012), translation.

 21. The Awakening of the Kurds - 2012, translated into Kurdish in two volumes and published under the title 'Kurdish Awakening: Political History 1900-1925' in 2009.

 22. On War Crimes, Crimes Against Peace, and Genocide - 2014.

23. History of Arab Music, translation.

 24. Carmen Brosier - 1954, translation.

 25. Swearing the Oath of a Legal Person in the Decisions of the Iraqi Court of Cassation.

 26. Journey to Brave Men in Kurdistan, (Second edition - 1999), (Third edition - 2012), translation.

 27. How to Butt the Sky - 1953, translation. 

28. The Last Condemned to Death, 1933, translation.

 29. Memories of the House of the Dead, 1953, translation.

 30. The Jury Story - 1958, translation.

31. Mosul, Mother of the Two Springs - 1956.

32. Swearing the Oath of a Legal Person in the Decisions of the Iraqi Court - 1957.

33. Heritage of Islam - (First edition - 1954), (Second edition - 2012), translation, in two volumes.

32. Kurds, Turks, and Arabs - (First edition - 197...), (Second edition - 2012), translation.

33. The Meaning of Sound Names in the Book of Songs by al-Isfahani - 1958.

34. The Jury - 1953.

Sources: 

  1. Archive of the Encyclopedia Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party

  2. Uriel Dann, Iraq under Qasim, translation and commentary by Jirjis Fathallah, Part One, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012 AD), pp. 1, 512.

  3. Uriel Dann, Iraq under Qasim, translation and commentary by Jirjis Fathallah, Part Two, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012 AD), pp. 1, 463.

  4. Clarification from the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraq, Al-Ta'akhi Newspaper, Issue 1344, Baghdad, Al-Times Press, Tuesday, 29 May 1973 AD, p. 4. 

  5. Under the patronage of President Barzani.. An academic congress held on Kirkuk, Gulan Al-Arabi Magazine, Gulan Institution for Culture and Media, Issue 59, Fifth Year, Erbil, 30 April 2001 AD, p. 25. 

  6. Bwar Nuredin, Kurds and Kurdistan: Bibliography and Index in Kurdish Books, Volume Two, Part Two, (Tehran - Tehran Press - 2016 AD), pp. 302-303.

  7. Plutarch, Lives, translation by Jirjis Fathallah, Part One, (Erbil - Aras Publications for Printing and Publishing - Ministry of Education Press - 2005 AD), pp. 1, 656. 

  8. Plutarch, Lives, translation by Jirjis Fathallah, Part Two, (Erbil - Aras Publications for Printing and Publishing - Ministry of Education Press - 2005 AD), pp. 663, 1247.

  9. Plutarch, Lives, translation by Jirjis Fathallah, Part Three, (Erbil - Aras Publications for Printing and Publishing - Ministry of Education Press - 2005 AD), pp. 1255, 1928

  10. Jabbar Jabbari, History of the Kurdish Press in Iraq, (Baghdad - General Directorate of Kurdish Culture - Al-Umma Press - 1975 AD), p. 54. 

  11. Jirjis Fathallah the Lawyer, Iraq under Qasim: Opinions and Thoughts 1958-1988, Part Two, (Sweden - Dar Nabz for Printing and Publishing - 1989 AD), pp. 666-668.

  12. Jirjis Fathallah, Men and Events in the Balance, (Beirut - Aras Printing and Publishing House and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012 AD), pp. 1, 9-19, 80, 101, 431.

  13. Jirjis Fathallah, Two Studies on the Margin of the Revolution of Sheikh Ubaydullah al-Nahri, Second Edition, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House - 2010 AD), pp. 1, 199.

  14. Jirjis Fathallah, The Kuwait Adventure: Face and Background, Part One, (Stockholm - 1991 AD), pp. 1, 374. 

  15. Jirjis Fathallah, Views on Arab Nationalism until the Year 1970, Part One, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012 AD), pp. 1, 585.

  16. Jirjis Fathallah, The Kuwait Adventure: Face and Background, Part Two, (Stockholm - 1991 AD), pp. 375, 702.

  17. Jirjis Fathallah, Views on Arab Nationalism until the Year 1970, Part Two, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012 AD), pp. 597, 1196.

  18. Jirjis Fathallah, Views on Arab Nationalism until the Year 1970, Part Four, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012 AD), pp. 1893, 2300. 

  19. Jirjis Fathallah, Views on Arab Nationalism until the Year 1970, Part Five, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012 AD), pp. 23909, 2784.

  20. Jirjis Fathallah, The Awakening of the Kurds, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012 AD), pp. 1, 701. 

  21. Jirjis Fathallah, Kurdish Awakening: Political History 1900-1925, translated by Hassan Jaf, Part One, (Duhok - Mukriyani Research and Publishing Institution - Khani Press - 2009 AD), pp. 1, 9, 344.

  22. Jirjis Fathallah, Kurdish Awakening: Political History 1900-1925, translated by Hassan Jaf, Part Two, (Duhok - Mukriyani Research and Publishing Institution - Khani Press - 2009 AD), pp. 1, 345, 752. 

  23. Jamal Nabaz, Memoirs of Those Days That Will Never Return, (Sulaymaniyah - Shvan Press - 2017 AD), p. 371.

  24. Hassan Latif al-Zubaidi, Encyclopedia of Iraqi Parties, (Beirut - Al-Aref Institution for Publications - 2007 AD), p. 481. 

  25. Dana Adams Schmidt, Journey to Brave Men in Kurdistan, translation and commentary by Jirjis Fathallah, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012 AD), pp. 1, 352.

  26. Dana Adams Schmidt, Journey to Brave Men in Kurdistan, translation and commentary by Jirjis Fathallah, Second Edition, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House - Ministry of Education Press - 1999 AD), pp. 1, 464. 

  27. W.A. Wigram and Edgar T.A. Wigram, The Cradle of Mankind, translation by Jirjis Fathallah, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012 AD), pp. 1, 446. 

  28. W.A. Wigram and Edgar T.A. Wigram, The Cradle of Mankind: Life in East Kurdistan, translation by Jirjis Fathallah the Lawyer, (Baghdad - Publications of Dar Al-Urooba International Company for Publishing and Distribution - Al-Zaman Press - 1971 AD), pp. 1, 371.

  29. W.A. Wigram and Edgar T.A. Wigram, The Cradle of Mankind: Life in East Kurdistan, translation by Jirjis Fathallah, Fourth Edition, (Erbil - Aras Printing and Publishing House - 2010 AD), pp. 1, 349. 

  30. History of Party Cadre Sessions, From the Mountains to the City, (Erbil - Center for Studies, Research, and Party Academy - Rojhalat Press - 2019 AD), pp. 19, 22, 26, 32, 34, 54.

  31. Rizgar Nuri Shaways, We issued Khabat secretly in Baghdad after it was suspended, Khabat Newspaper, mouthpiece of the Unified Kurdistan Democratic Party, Issue 922, Erbil, Friday, 30 April 1999 AD, pp. 8-9. 

  32. Rene Maurice, Kurdistan or Death, translation and commentary by Jirjis Fathallah the Lawyer, (London - Kurdology - 1986 AD), pp. 1, 143. 

  33. President of the National Council of Iraqi Kurdistan receives Mr. Jirjis Fathallah, Khabat Newspaper, mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Issue 998, Erbil, Friday, 20 October 2000 AD, p. 2. 

  34. The Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament welcomes the patriotic personality Mr. Jirjis Fathullah, Brayati Newspaper, organ of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Unified, No. 2821, Erbil, Monday, April 26, 1999, p. 1. 

  35. Said Nakam, Memoirs of Said Nakam, (Erbil - Aras Publications - 2003), p. 235. 

  36. C. J. Edmonds, Kurds, Turks and Arabs, translated by Jirjis Fathullah, (Erbil - Aras House for Printing and Publishing and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012), pp. 1, 623. 

  37. Mr. Barzani delegates a delegation to participate in the funeral ceremonies held for the soul of the great late Ayatollah Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim, Al-Ta'akhi Newspaper, No. 461, Baghdad, Dar Al-Jahiz Press, Saturday, June 13, 1970, p. 5. 

  38. Sayyid Ali Mojani, Solmaz Sedghi, Elahe Nemati and others, Encyclopedia of Men and Contemporary Families of Iraq, (Tehran - Ezam Publisher - 1392 AH), p. 303. 

  39. Sir Thomas Arnold, The Legacy of Islam, translated and annotated by Jirjis Fathullah, Part One, (Erbil - Aras House for Printing and Publishing and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012), pp. 1, 360.

  40. Sir Thomas Arnold, The Legacy of Islam, translated and annotated by Jirjis Fathullah, Part Two, (Erbil - Aras House for Printing and Publishing and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012), pp. 1, 319. 

  41. Shaban Said Muhammad, Ez u Hevriki u Pelit Xema, (Duhok - College of Sharia Press - 2000), p. 42. 

  42. Shwan Hussein Shink Balaki, Jawhar Namiq Salim 1946-2011 Life, Works and Political Role, Soran University, Faculty of Arts, Department of History, 2016, (Unpublished Master's Thesis), p. 207. 

  43. Sabah Mahdi Ramidh, Press of the Royal Era, (Beirut - Misr Murtada Institution for the Iraqi Book - 2010), p. 58. 

  44. Tayeb Al-Kishki, Selected Stations from the September Revolution of 1961, (Duhok - Duhok Governorate Press - 2017), p. 35.

  45. Adel Ghafoori Khalil, Public Opposition Parties in Iraq 1946-1954, (Baghdad - Al-Maktaba Al-Alamiya - Al-Intisar Offset Press - 1984), p. 88.

  46. Abdul-Jabbar Abdul-Mustafa, The Experience of Frontal Work in Iraq between 1921-1958, (Baghdad - Dar Al-Hurriya for Printing - 1978), p. 129. 

  47. Abdul-Hamid Darwish, Highlights on the Kurdish Movement in Syria, Third Edition, (Sulaymaniyah - Margaret Institution and Jamal Irfan Institution - Kamal Press - 2013), p. 157.

  48. Abdul-Razzaq Al-Hasani, History of Iraqi Ministries, Part Seven, Seventh Edition, (Baghdad - General Cultural Affairs House - 1988), p. 41. 

  49. Abdul-Fattah Ali Al-Butani, Studies and Researches in the History of Kurds and Contemporary Iraq, (Erbil - Dar Spirez for Printing and Publishing - Haji Hashim Press - 2007), p. 436. 

  50. Abdul-Fattah Ali Al-Butani, Pages from the Mosul Memory "A collection of articles, interviews and topics about the recent history of Mosul", (Erbil - Kurdish Academy - Salahaddin University Press, 2017), p. 335.

  51. Abdul-Majid Shawqi Al-Bakri, The Mosul Epic in Communist Disgraces, (Mosul - Republic Press - 1963), pp. 26, 75-76.

  52. Farhad Haji, Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Living Kurds of Kurdistan Jirjis Fathullah, Hazel Magazine, No. 9, Summer 2008, pp. 19-27. 

  53. Faisal Al-Dabbagh, A Bibliographic Discovery of Kurdish Newspapers and Magazines, Part One, Gulan Al-Arabi Magazine, No. 11, Gulan Media Institution, Erbil, Ministry of Culture Press, April 25, 1997, p. 57.

  54. Revolutionary Command Council Decision No. 714, Al-Waqa'i Al-Iraqiya Newspaper, Ministry of Culture and Information in Iraq, No. 1896 A, Twelfth Year, Baghdad, Sunday, July 5, 1970, p. 4.

  55. Revolutionary Command Council Decision No. 958, Al-Waqa'i Al-Iraqiya Newspaper, Ministry of Information in Iraq, No. 1915 A, Thirteenth Year, Baghdad, Thursday, September 3, 1970, p. 2. 

  56. Latif Nadir Rawanduzi, The Importance of the Kurdistan Intelligence Agency in the Great September National Revolution, Gulan Magazine, No. 132, Erbil, August 2, 1997, p. 46.

  57. Mam Jalal, Where did Khabat come from and how did it become an organ of the Party? And how was it managed?, Khak Magazine, No. 55, Fifth Year, Sulaymaniyah, Diler Offset Press, January 10, 2002, p. 5. 

  58. Mahmoud Fahmi Darwish, Mustafa Jawad and Ahmad Susa, Directory of the Iraqi Republic for the year 1960, (Baghdad - Ministry of Guidance - Al-Tamaddun Printing House - 1961), p. 448.

  59. Muhammad Ali Ismail, My Memoirs Seventy Years of Age and More Than Half a Century of Struggle, (No place - 2019), p. 56.

  60. Masoud Barzani, Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, Volume Three, (Erbil - Ministry of Education Press - 2002), pp. 253, 393.

  61. Mustafa Nariman, Dictionary of Kurdish Adibs and Writers, (Baghdad - General Secretariat of Culture and Youth - Asaad Press - 1986), p. 32. 

  62. Mullah Faruq Shawani, All Kurds, Volume One, (Erbil - Enlightenment Press - 1997), p. 66. 

  63. Mahdi Muhammad Qadir, Political Developments in Iraqi Kurdistan 1945-1958, (Sulaymaniyah - Kurdistan Center for Strategic Studies - 2005), p. 188. 

  64. Mihvan Muhammad Hussein, Britain's Position on the Kurdish Issue in Iraq 1975-1980, (No place - Zakho Center for Kurdish Studies - 2018), pp. 324-325, 343.

  65. Nawzad Ali Ahmad, Press of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Outside the Country, (Sulaymaniyah - Jin Institution for the Revival of Kurdish Documentary and Journalistic Heritage - 2010), p. 33. 

  66. Henry Field, South Kurdistan An Anthropological Study, translated by Jirjis Fathullah, (Erbil - Aras House for Printing and Publishing and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012), pp. 1, 422.

  67. Henry Field, South Kurdistan, translated into Arabic by Jirjis Fathullah, (Erbil - Aras House - Education Press - 2001), pp. 1, 4, 298. 

  68. Interview: Azad Abdul-Wahid, The Harvest of Ziver Khatab's Days, (Erbil - Rojhalat Press - 2019), p. 57. 

  69. William Eagleton Jr., The Republic of Mahabad - The 1946 Kurdish Republic, translated and annotated by Jirjis Fathullah, (Erbil - Aras House for Printing and Publishing and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012), pp. 1, 17-18, 83-84, 88-89, 91-98, 100-101, 232. 

  70. William Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, translated by Jirjis Fathullah, Part One, (Erbil - Aras House for Printing and Publishing and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012), pp. 1, 830. 

  71. William Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, translated by Jirjis Fathullah, Part Two, (Erbil - Aras House for Printing and Publishing and Al-Jamal Publications - 2012), pp. 837, 1614.