Colonel Fahmi Said (; 1898 – 5 May 1942) was one of the Four Colonels of the

Golden Square Golden Square, in Soho, the City of Westminster, London, is a mainly hardscaped garden square planted with a few mature trees and raised borders in Central London flanked by classical office buildings. Its four approach ways are north and so ...

, a pro-Nazi cabal that briefly overthrew the

Hashemite monarchy The Hashemites (), also House of Hashim, are the royal family of Jordan, which they have ruled since 1921, and were the royal family of the kingdoms of Hejaz (1916–1925), Syria (1920), and Iraq (1921–1958). The family had ruled the city of Me ...

in Iraq in 1941. When the British intervened and the coup was suppressed, Said was sentenced to death. He and his collaborators were hanged. He was born to an Arab father from the Anbak tribe and a mother of Turkish origin in Sulaymaniyah. He was a lieutenant in the

Ottoman Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire () was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1922. Army The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years ...

before briefly serving in the

Syrian Arab Army The Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF; ) were the combined armed forces of Syria from 1963 to 2024. They served during the rule of the Ba'ath Party in Syria. The SAAF consisted of the Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Air Force, Syrian Arab Air D ...

, then joining the

Royal Iraqi Army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), also referred to as the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was formerly known as the Royal Iraq ...

of the newly independent

Kingdom of Iraq The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq was the Iraqi state located in the Middle East from 1932 to 1958. It was founded on 23 August 1921 as the Kingdom of Iraq, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Mesopotamian campaign of the First World W ...

. The members of the Golden Square were

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Salah al-Din al-Sabbagh Salah al-Din al-Sabbagh (; 1889 – 16 October 1945) was an Iraqi Army officer and Arab nationalist that led the Golden Square group which had opposed the government at the time and had highly influenced politics between the years of 1939 and 194 ...

, Colonel

Kamil Shabib Colonel Kamil Shabib (Arabic: كامل شبيب; 1895 – 20 August 1944) was an Iraqi military officer and one of the Four Colonels of the Golden Square, a pro-Nazi cabal that briefly overthrew the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq in 1941. When the ...

, Colonel Said, and Colonel

Mahmud Salman Colonel Mahmud Salman (; 7 January 1889 – 5 May 1942) was the Commanding Officer in the Royal Iraqi Air Force in the late 1930s and as a member of the Golden Square, was one of the four principal instigators of the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état. Fo ...

. During the

Anglo-Iraqi War The Anglo-Iraqi War was a British-led Allies of World War II, Allied military campaign during the Second World War against the Kingdom of Iraq, then ruled by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani who had seized power in the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état with assista ...

, the four members of the Golden Square commanded units located in the

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

area. Salah ad-Din al-Sabbagh was commander of the Iraqi 3rd Infantry Division. Kamal Shabib commanded the 1st Infantry Division. Fahmi Said commanded the Independent Mechanized Brigade. Mahmud Salman, the one non-

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

officer, was the Chief of the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

.Lyman, p. 21

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Said, Fahmi 1898 births 1942 deaths Golden Square members Ottoman Army officers Syrian military personnel Iraqi Ground Forces officers People executed by Iraq by hanging Executed Iraqi collaborators with Nazi Germany Executed military personnel Ottoman military personnel of World War I People of the Anglo-Iraqi War