Shafiq Ades

Shafiq Ades (Hebrew:שפיק עדס, Arabic: شفيق عدس) (b. 1900, died 23/10/1948) was a wealthy Jewish businessman of Syrian origins who based himself in Iraq. After a short show trial He was executed by hanging on charges of selling weapons to Israel and supporting the Iraqi Communist Party.http://www.ajds.org.au/mendes_refugees.htm]

Background

Ades was born to a wealthy family based in Aleppo, Syria. He migrated to Iraq and based himself in Basra. His main business activity was the establishment and management of the Ford car company agency in Iraq. He further partnered with a muslim named Naji Al-Khedhairi in purchasing military metal scrap left in Iraq by the British army, selling the unusable parts after usable parts were sold to the government of Iraq.Ades accumulated business and personal ties with high-profile Iraqi notables and officials and even had accessibility to the reagent, 'Abd al-Ilah.

Trial

Ades was charged with donating money to the Iraqi Communist Party and with supporting the military efforts of Israel. He was sentenced to death and a fine of 5 Million Dinars. The rest of his property was also confisticated.

Evidence of show trial

Moshe Gat and Phillip Mendes have reached the conclusion that the trial was a show one. they point to the following evidenceThe Jewish exodus from iraq, 1948-1951, p. 36] :

* No such complaints were ever filed against his Muslim partner or many other scrap traders.
* The trial lasted only 3 days, and the defendant was not allowed to plead his case.
* No witnesses were heard.
* The show trial was presided over by Judge Abdullah al-Naasni, a member of the anti-Jewish Istiqlal party and a pro-Nazi.
* No concrete evidence was presented that the arms were shipped from Italy to Israel.

Execution

On 23/10/1948, Ades was hanged in front of his newly completed mansion in Basra, watched by 12,000 viewers from all parts of Iraq. The viewers came a day earlier to witness the hanging of the "traitor". His body was allowed to languish in the square for hours and was abused by the celebrating crowds. [ [http://www.bankingonbaghdad.com/archive/ReformJudaism2004V33N2/black.shtml URJ - Reform Judaism Magazine ] ] [(hebrew) המחתרת החלוצית בעיראק, יוסף מאיר]

Aftermath

The execution of Ades was shocking to the Jewish community. As he was an assimilated and non-Zionist Jew, the affair significantly reduced support for assimilation and increased support for emigration as a solution to the crisis in the Iraqi Jewish community.

Streets in Ramla, Petah Tikva and Herzelia Israel were named after Ades.

References

External links

* [http://www.iraqijews.org/commlead.html Community Leaders ] at www.iraqijews.org