Latif Mahmud Saeed Muhammad, known as Sheikh Latif Hafid, a writer and politician, was elected as the First Deputy to the President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Year 1946 by the representatives of the First Congress, which is referred to as the founding congress or the first unification congress. This was the implementation of part of the recommendations of General Mustafa Barzani as the founder and president of the new Party. He was imprisoned in the prisons of Sulaymaniyah, Hilla, and Basra during the years (1956-1958). In the Year 1963, he was a member of the Koya Congress (the First People's Congress). On January 21, 1963, in the town of Ranya, he was a member of the Kurdish negotiating delegation with the Iraq delegation for the purpose of autonomy for Kurdistan. In the Year 1964, he did not support the Political Bureau wing of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and supported the President. In the Year 1964, he was a member of the Revolutionary Command Council in Iraq Kurdistan. In the Year 1964, he was a member of the Constitutional Committee affiliated with the Executive Office (Al-Maktab al-Tanfidhi).

Biography

Latif Mahmud Saeed Muhammad was born in the city of Sulaymaniyah. He was one of the famous Kurdish figures and held a social status. He was from the family of the Qadiriyya Barzanji sheikhs of Sulaymaniyah, who were followers of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077-1165). He was a descendant of Sheikh Ahmad Nodi, known as Kibrit al-Ahmar, and the youngest son of King Mahmud I (1881-1956). In December 1908, his grandfather Saeed was assassinated in the city of Mosul by the Committee of Union and Progress Party (Ittihad ve Terakki), and his father, Sheikh Mahmud, was wounded.

In the Year 1919, his father, Sheikh Mahmud, was appointed as the Governor of Kurdistan by the authorities of the United Kingdom. In a British Intelligence Agency report in 1933, he was identified as the successor to the struggle and resistance of Sheikh Mahmud Hafid. In the Year 1919, when he was a child, he was displaced with his family to Eastern Kurdistan. In the Year 1931, he participated in the Battle of Awa Barik (Sulaymaniyah) during the uprising of Sheikh Mahmud Hafid. He was one of the founders of the Brotherhood Association in the Year 1938. Since the Year 1939, he had strengthened his relationship with Mustafa Barzani in the city of Sulaymaniyah. In the Year 1941, he met with Captain Vilchevsky, a representative of the Intelligence Agency of the Soviet Union in Kurdistan and the Kingdom of Iran, for the purpose of discussing the Situation of the region and Kurdish rights. During the years (1942-1943), he lived in Eastern Kurdistan and established a Kurdish administration with the support of some tribal leaders in the town of Sardasht.

On July 12, 1943, with the permission of his father, King Mahmud, he facilitated the escape of Mustafa Barzani (1903-1979) from detention in the city of Sulaymaniyah towards Eastern Kurdistan, and from there towards the Barzan region. In the Year 1946, he supported the Democratic Republic of Kurdistan.

In the Year 1973, his collection of poems in Central Kurdish (Sorani) titled (Withered Flower) was published in 82 pages in the city of Sulaymaniyah. He was proficient in the Kurdish, Arabic, and Persian languages.

Struggle Record

Latif Mahmud Saeed Muhammad was elected as the First Deputy to the President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Year 1946 by the representatives of the First Congress, which is referred to as the founding congress or the first unification congress. This was the implementation of part of the recommendations of General Mustafa Barzani as the founder and president of the new Party. In the Year 1946, he received the news of the defeat of the Democratic Republic of Kurdistan from Jalal Amin Beg (1911-2004). During the years (1946-1958), he provided shelter to many cadres of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, such as Ghani Bolurian, Hazhar Mukriyani, Haidari, and Abdul Rahman Zabih. In the Year 1948, he provided a printing press and shelter for the cadres of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan so they could publish their publications there. In the Year 1948, leftist protesters in the city of Sulaymaniyah attacked him unjustly, and he fired warning shots into the air to disperse them, which displeased his father, Sheikh Mahmud Hafid.

In the Year 1948, encouraged by the Iraqi Communist Party, some farmers in the Arbat region on the border of Sulaymaniyah province stood against him, and they reconciled when the Iraqi Communist Party weakened. However, throughout the sixties of the twentieth century, he was known for helping the communists, despite his support for the Barzanis and the Kurdish national movement, but he avoided armed confrontation with the state of Iraq. On December 27, 1950, he was imprisoned by Jalal Khalid, the Governor of Sulaymaniyah, on the Charge of Cooperation with the famous rebel Khala Piza, and was later exiled to Nasiriyah in southern Iraq by the order of Nuri al-Said, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Iraq. In the Year 1952, he participated in the Newroz celebration in the city of Sulaymaniyah. On October 10, 1956, when the funeral procession of Sheikh Mahmud Hafid (1881-1956) arrived in the city of Sulaymaniyah, the masses took it towards the prison so that Sheikh Latif could see him, but the police of the Kingdom of Iraq fired at the masses, and two people were martyred without the masses achieving their goal.

In the years (1956–1958), he was first imprisoned in Sulaymaniyah prison, then transferred to Hilla prison, and later to Basra prison in southern Iraq. This imprisonment was solely at the will of Omar Ali, the Governor of Sulaymaniyah. In 1956, while in prison, he had contact with the leadership of the Iraqi Communist Party and intended to connect with General Mustafa Barzani through the Iraqi Communist Party. On July 14, 1958, in a telegram to the overthrowers of the Iraqi monarchy, one of the demands of the people of Sulaymaniyah was his release. A few days after the July 14, 1958 coup, he was released from prison. On Sunday, August 10, 1958, in the city of Kirkuk, he welcomed Sheikh Ahmed Sheikh Mohammed Sheikh Abdul-Salam (1892–1969), known as Sheikh Ahmed Barzani, who had just been released from Basra prison, and accompanied his convoy of cars as far as the town of Pirde on the border of Kirkuk Governorate. On April 17, 1959, at the Second Congress of the Iraqi Peace Partisans Movement, he was elected as a member of the National Council of Iraqi Peace Partisans. In 1959, he visited the Soviet Union with a Kurdish delegation from Southern Kurdistan and met with authorities and refugees from Southern and Eastern Kurdistan. In 1962, he resided in the village of Sitek. In 1963, he was a member of the Koya Congress, the First People's Congress (First People's Congress).

On January 21, 1963, in the town of Ranya, he was a member of the Kurdish negotiating delegation with the Iraqi delegation for the purpose of autonomy for Kurdistan. In Year 1964, he did not support the Political Bureau faction of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and supported the President. In Year 1964, he was a member of the Revolutionary Command Council in Iraqi Kurdistan. In Year 1964, he was a member of the Constitutional Committee affiliated with the Executive Office (Al-Maktab al-Tanfidhi). In the final stages of his life, he fell ill and remained bedridden for a long time. In 1966, in Jundiyan, affiliated with Erbil Governorate, he welcomed an Iraqi government delegation for negotiations. In 1967, in the village of Sitek, affiliated with Sulaymaniyah Governorate, he welcomed Jalal Hisamaddin Nureddin (1933–2017), known as Jalal Talabani. At 6:30 PM on May 12, 1972, he passed away at the Rahbat Hospital in Baghdad and was buried in the Great Mosque of Sulaymaniyah. His funeral procession was escorted to the city of Sulaymaniyah by the committee of the Fifth Branch of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. A delegation from the Political Bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, representing President Mustafa Barzani, attended his funeral in Sulaymaniyah. Due to his passing, a condolence letter was sent to his family by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (1914–1982), the President of Iraq.

Among his works

  1. Withered Flower (Guli Weriu) – 1973.
  2. Giyakalla.
  3. Social Giyakalla – 1978.
  4. Memoirs of Sheikh (Latif) Hafid on the Revolutions of Sheikh Mahmud Hafid – 1995
  5. Memoirs – 1995.
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