Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz (Arabic: عبد الرحمن البزاز; 20 February 1913 – 28 June 1973) was an Iraqi politician, reformist and writer. He was a pan-Arab nationalist and served as the Dean of Baghdad Law College and later as Prime Minister of Iraq. Al-Bazzaz main political project was the professionalization of the government through increasing access to civilian expertise. That civic agenda came at the expense of the military. Al-Bazzaz was charged by the Ba'athist-dominated government of participation in activities against the government and he was tortured and imprisoned. Al-Bazzaz was finally released because of illness in 1970 and moved to London for treatment before later dying in Baghdad on 28 June 1973. Early life and education Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz was born to a Sunni Muslim family in Baghdad. His brother was the plant ecologist, Fakhri A. Bazzaz. He completed both elementary school and high school in Baghdad. Al-Bazzaz graduated from the Baghdad Law College in 1934. In 1938 Al-Bazzaz completed his law studies at King's College London. During the 1930s, he became an affiliate of the Muthanna and Jawwal clubs, the academic focus of which was pan-Arabism and encouraging Arab nationalism. The Muthanna Club was established in Baghdad in 1935 and was an influential radical pan-Arab and pan-Islamic fascist society which collapsed with the Rashid Ali al-Gaylani rebellion. In 1941 al-Bazzaz supported the Iraqi coup d'état. After the coup failed, al-Bazzaz was incarcerated during the Second World War but he was released at the end of the war. Academic career After the war, al-Bazzaz was chosen as the dean of the Baghdad Law College. In 1956 he was forced out of this role by the government for protesting against the invasion of Egypt by France, Britain and Israel. He signed a petition that was very critical of the Iraqi government's stand during the Suez crisis under the premiership of Nuri as-Said, a staunch opponent of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. Al-Bazzaz returned to the Baghdad Law College as the dean after the revolution in 1958. Al-Bazzaz's interest in the pan-Arab movement again put him into disagreement with the government, this time with the new government of Abd al-Karim Qasim (1958–1963), an Iraqi nationalist aligned with communist forces. In 1959 Colonel ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Shawwaf, who was the Commander of the Mosul Garrison, instigated a rebellion. After four days of fighting, he was killed and the uprising was crushed. Following the collapse