Saqr III bin Sultan Al Qasimi (1924 – 9 November 1993) was the ruler of the

Emirate of Sharjah The Emirate of Sharjah (; ') is one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates, which covers and has a population of over 1,400,000 (2015). It comprises the capital city of Sharjah, after which it is named, and other minor towns and exclave ...

, a Trucial State and now one of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, from May 1951 to 24 June 1965. Saqr was the eldest son of Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi II, who ruled 1924–51. After Sultan's death, Saqr became the ruler. Saqr was an

Arab nationalist Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...

, which undermined the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

's control of the

Trucial States The Trucial States, also known as the Trucial Coast, the Trucial Sheikhdoms, or Trucial Oman, was a group of tribal confederations to the south of the Persian Gulf (southeastern Arabia) whose leaders had signed protective treaties, or truce ...

. In 1964, he supported the opening of an

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

office in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

, after a visit by an Arab League delegation led by Abdul Khalek Hassouna, the Secretary-General at the time. The British viewed this move as a threat, which lead the British administration to seek support from the Al Qasimi family (which was forthcoming), to initiate the ouster of Saqr as the ruler of Sharjah. In 1965,

Terence Clark Sir Terence Joseph Clark (born 19 June 1934) is a British retired diplomat and writer. Career Clark was educated at Parmiter's School. He did National Service nominally in the Royal Air Force, actually learning Russian at the Joint Services ...

, deputy to Glencairn Balfour Paul, the British Political Agent in Dubai (Balfour-Paul himself having been taken ill), deposed Saqr in a bloodless palace coup. Saqr was then exiled to

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

and eventually

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. His cousin,

Khalid bin Mohammed Al Qasimi Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed Al Qasimi (1931 – 25 January 1972) was an Emirati royal, politician, and a founder of the United Arab Emirates who served as the ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah, from 1965 until his assassination in 1972. Biography S ...

succeeded him.

Attempted coup

On 24 January 1972, following soon after the creation of the

on 2 December 1971, Saqr returned to Sharjah from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

with a number of mercenaries and seized power in an attempted coup. The group took control of the Ruler's palace at approximately 2:30 PM, with reports of gunfire and grenade explosions within the palace. Besieged by the Union Defence Force, which arrived an hour later, Saqr finally gave himself up in the early hours of 25 January to UAE Minister of Defence,

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (; born 15 July 1949) is an Emirati politician and royal who is the current ruler of Dubai, and serves as the vice president and prime minister of the UAE. Mohammed succeeded his brother Maktoum bin Rashid ...

. However, Khalid was killed in the action. Saqr was handed over to Sheikh Zayed's custody by Mohammed and, according to then-British Political Agent Glencairn Balfour-Paul, "dropped in an underground hole in Buraimi." Other sources assert that he was in fact tried and imprisoned until 1979 and then, upon his release, that he went into exile in Cairo.

References

{{Authority control Sheikhs of the Emirate of Sharjah House of Al Qasimi 1924 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Arab people