IOR/R/15/1/500

This file contains correspondence between British officials regarding date gardens in southern Iraq owned by the rulers of Kuwait and Mohammerah. In particular, the correspondence concerns the Government of Iraq's decision to end the immunity from taxation (on the gardens) that had been granted by the British Government to the former ruler of Kuwait, Shaikh Mubārak Āl Ṣabāḥ and the Shaikh of Mohammerah, Khaz‘al bin Jābir al-Ka‘bī in return for their military support against the Ottoman Empire in World War 1.

The file contains details of a case in the court of Basra brought against Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ, the ruler of Kuwait, by Abdulla Al Zuhair/Az-Zuhair [‘Abdullāh al-Zuhayr] and includes translations of correspondence between Shaikh Ahmad and his lawyer in Basra, Abdul Jalil Partu.

The file contains translations of correspondence between Shaikh Aḥmad and his son (and representative in Iraq) Shaikh Mohamed [Muḥammad] as well as correspondence between British officials and the Iraqi government. It also includes discussions concerning the final financial settlement the British government intended to offer Shaikh Aḥmad in compensation for losses caused since 1932 (and future losses) and discussions between British officials regarding the exact wording of the original agreement with Shaikh Mubārak Āl Ṣabāḥ.

The file also contains reports concerning the seizure of Shaikh Aḥmad's estates in Fao (The Al Faw Peninsula) and Faddaghiya by the Iraqi authorities and contains a translation of a demand issued to Shaikh Aḥmad for taxation arrears said to be owed on the estates (f. 26).