Qazi Muhammad

Qazi Muhammad (Kurdish: قازی محهممهد [ qɑ ː zi ː mɪhəm ː əd ], persian قاضی محمد [ ɢɔ ː zi ː moɦæm ː Æd ]; born 1900 or 1901, † March 31, 1947 in Mahabad ) was the only head of government of the short-lived Republic of Mahabad. He came from a distinguished family of clergymen in Mahabad. Defense Minister Mohammed Hossein Saif Qazi was his cousin.

When the Kurds of northern Iran in Mahabad Mahabad proclaimed the Republic in January 1946 under Soviet auspices, Qazi Mohammed was its president. He was also the leader of the ruling party Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan. From the beginning, however, he had problems to draw the Kurdish tribes to his side. Firstly, this had to do with the distrust of many Kurds against the Soviet power protection together, on the other, so that Qazi Muhammad did not came from a family of tribal leaders or sheiks. Thus Qazi Muhammad had from the start not enough authority. As part of the destruction of the Republic, he was captured by the Iranian army and sentenced to death by hanging for sedition and treason. On March 30, 1947, he was together with the ministers of his government, except for Haji Baba Sheikh, was executed publicly in Mahabad. With Ali Qazi one of his sons is engaged in the Kurdish movement.