1935 – 36 Iraqi Shia revolts 1935 Rumaytha and Diwaniyya revolt or the 1935 – 1936 Iraqi Shia revolts consisted of a series of Shia tribal uprisings in the mid - Euphrates region against the Sunni dominated authority of the Kingdom of Iraq . In each revolt , the response of the Iraqi government was to use military force to crush the rebellions with little mercy . The administrative task of this forceful disciplining of the Shi ' a tribes fell to General Bakr Sidqi – the same man responsible for the brutal massacre of Assyrians in 1933 . Parallel revolts , opposing conscription , also broke out that year in northern Iraq ( Kurdish populated ) and Jabal Sinjar ( mostly Yazidi populated ) regions . The Shia tribes of the mid - Euphrates region ( as well as the Kurds in the North Iraq ) saw themselves increasingly under - represented in the Sunni - dominated Iraqi government , which further detereorated with the exclusion of key Shia sheikhs from the Iraqi parliament in 1934 elections . As a result , unrest broke out in the mid - Euphrates in January 1935 . Following unsuccessful attempts by Shia leaders to achieve relief of certain grievances in return for reconciliation , the rebellion spread to the region of Diwaniyya , led by two powerful sheikhs . The rebellion , however , was pacified within a single week , as internal Iraqi politics allowed the resignation of the Iraqi government . Following the arrest of one of the more prominent clerical followers of Ayatollah Khashif al - Ghita in May , Shia uprisings again spread in the mid - Euphrates . Martial law was declared in Diwaniyya by Bakr Sidqi and the full power of the Iraqi airforce and army was deployed against the Shia tribesmen . By the end of May they were defeated and the revolt over . However , this didn ' t end the uprisings , as other incidents followed from time to time . Hundreds of Shia tribesmen were killed over the course of these events . The 1935 Shia uprisings posed no direct threat to the central Iraqi rule , since the tribes were too fragmented . Nevertheless , in 1936 the Shia tribes rose up again , killing 90 Iraqi troops and downing two aircraft . Sidqi ' s troops quickly prevailed , exacting a harsh punishment in destroying homes , imprisoning civilians and conducting public hangings of scores of men . Background . During the 1930s there was almost perpetual unrest in the Shi ' a south fueled by a variety of motives , but underpinned throughout by their continued expulsion from the upper echelons of political power . Denied the opportunity to express discontent through democratic means , the Shi ' a often resorted to open revolt . King Ghazi of Iraq , a Hashemite ruler of Iraq from 1933 to 1939 , was driven , amongst other things , by anti - Shia ambitions . As a result , two Shia ministers resigned from the Iraqi government in late 1933 following what in their opinion was a lack of care by the government for majority Shia communities in the area of Gharraf where a dam was to be built but the funds for which were diverted to the expansion of Iraqi army through conscription . Jamil al - Midfai , who succeeded al - Kailani as the Prime Minister of Iraq , introduced the " National Defense Bill " to the Iraqi parliament in February 1934 , setting up the framework for conscription and expansion of the Iraqi armed forces , a project strongly supported by Sunni Arabs , but regarded with suspicion and resentment by many Shia Arabs and Kurds . In August 1934 , elections promoted by al - Midfai and Ali Jawdat resulted in the reduction of Ikha party to just twelve seats and exclusion of most important tribal Shia sheikhs of the mid - Euphrates region from the parliament . A tactical alliance of the Ikha Party and the Shia sheikhs was hence created . Uprisings . January 1935 unrest . In January 1935 , an unrest swept the mid - Euphrates region . Prominent Shia tribal sheikhs of Najaf and Ayatollah Muhammad Kashif al - Ghita met preceding the events , with the " People ' s Charter " discussed . The People ' s Charter was presented to the government in March 1935 . The charter accepted the Iraqi state , but focused on concerns that large portions of Iraqi population , who feld ignored by the government of Ali Jawdat . March 1935 Diwaniyya uprising . An unsuccessful attempt was made by the Shia leaders to receive certain grievances in return to reconciliation . A petition had also been issued to the Iraqi King to oust Ali Jawdat . As their demands for Jawdat ' s resignation produced no result , an immediate action followed - Bakr Sidqi was requested to refuse to crush the rebellion , while Ali Jawdat was urged to resign with the dissent of his cabinet . The rebellion then spread to the region of Diwaniyya , led by two powerful sheikhs , who had ties with the Ikha Party and Yasin al - Hashimi . Jamil al - Midfai , successor of Jawdat , had as well to resign on March 15 ( just two weeks after his nomination ) , being uncapable the deal with the situation . Yasin al - Hashimi was then asked by the king to create a new government , effictively carrying out coup d ' état against his rivals in March 1935 . The rebellion , led by the allies of Yasin al - Hashimi in Diwaniyya , ended within a single week . It was followed by the entry of two chief rebel sheikhs into Baghdad , accompanied by large number of armed militants , who all came to issue a petition to the king , and show - off their force . Despite the government attempts to pacify the tribes , tribal unrest kept spreading in the mid - Euphrates region in April . May 1935 uprising . Following the arrest of one of the more prominent clerical followers of Ayatollah Khashif al - Ghita in May , including Ahmad Asadallah on May 6 , Rumaytha Shia tribes of Abu Hasan , Bani Zurayyij and Zawalim tribes revolted . Martial law was declared in Diwaniyya by Bakr Sidqi , and the full power of the Iraqi military employed against the Shia tribesmen . The air force began bombing the rebel villages in Diwaniyya on May 11 . On May 13 , the Muntafiq tribes of Suq al - Shuyukh and Nasiriyya revolted as well , shortly after which their sheikhs travelled to Najaf to sign the manifesto of Shia tribes against Yasin al - Hashimi . On the night of May 15 , the rebels took over the town of Suq al - Shuyukh and cut the railway between Basra and Nasiriyya . At this point the government , alarmed that the rebellion might further spread , expressed its will to negotiate with Ayatollah Khashif al - Ghita . The government effectively attempted to divide the rebelling tribes , as while Defense Minister Jafar al - Askari met the sheikhs of the Muntafiq tribes in order to persuade them into a truce the operations against Rumaytha continued until their full suppression on May 21 . The end of the Rumaytha revolt allowed the government to concentrate on the Muntafiq tribesmen and the mujtahids under Ayatollah al - Ghita . Salih Jabir , the Shia governor of Karbala , then persuaded al - Ghita to restrain the Muntafiq tribes from fighting . Upon establishing full control over Rumaytha , Nasiriyya and Suq al - Shuyukh , the government no longer had any interest in continuing negotiations with Khashif al - Ghita . By the end of May , the tribesmen were defeated and the revolt over . Later events . The crackdown in Diwaniyya in May 1935 , however didn ' t end the uprisings , as other incidents followed from time to time . Since May 1935 , the Shia uprisings posed no direct threat to the central Iraqi rule , as the tribes were too fragmented . In 1937 , another revolt was crushed by Iraqi military in the mid - Euphrates region . Social impact . The May 1935 revolt uncovered a lack of community interest within the Iraqi Shia society and absence of strong Shia political leadership , to present their interests in Baghdad . Shia tribal uprisings or an internal Iraqi politic struggle . Though distinctively those were Shia tribal uprisings , according to Charles Tripp , the events of 1935 did not constitute the " rising of the tribes " or the " Shia against the government " , though indeed tribal and communal Shia sentiments were at work .