Ali Nasser Al-Qardai (:1858–1948) was a Yemeni poet, revolutionary and tribal leader. Biography Ali was born in 1885 in Al-Rahaba district, Marib Governorate. He did not receive formal education as there were no schools in his area. However, he hired a private teacher. In 1925 he succeeded his father as chief of Murad tribes. Al-Qardai opposed Imam Yahya and criticized his rule using poetry. After Imam failed to buy his loyalty and influence his tribes, he sent a military campaign to arrest him in 1929. Tribes led by Ali resisted the military campaign, but he and his brother Ahmed were held two years later. His brother was sentenced to death, and he was imprisoned until he managed to escape in 1936. In 1940, he joined the Free Yemeni Movement that planned the 1948 Revolution. He was tasked with assassinating Imam Yahy. On 17 February 1948, Al-Qardai shot and killed the Imam in an ambush outside of Sana'a. The revolution failed and quelled by son of Imam Yahya Ahmed, and Al-Qardai was arrested in Khawlan. He was beheaded and his head was hung for two months at the gate of Sanaa. References 1885 births Yemeni revolutionaries Yemeni tribal chiefs 20th-century Yemeni poets 19th-century Yemeni poets 1948 deaths People from Marib Governorate