Kazim al-Samawi

Kazim Jasir Faraj (; 1925 – 15 March 2010), better known as Kazim al-Samawi, was an Iraqi poet and journalist known for his humanist worldview. From the 1950s, he spent more than half of his life in exile as a political refuge and was known by title "The Elder of the Iraqi exiles" or "The Shaykh of Exiles". His family name is derived from his hometown demonym, Samawah. He studied in Baghdad and graduated from the Rural Teachers’ House in 1940, continued his higher studies in Hungary and graduated from the Faculty of Arts in 1956. He worked for a while in journalism in Baghdad with a progressive tendency, founded The Humanity in 1956, a twice-weekly leftist newspaper. He left about seven poetry collections that have been translated into several languages. Al-Samawi died at the age of 85 in Stockholm and was buried in Sulaymaniyah.

Biography Early years Kazim Jasir Faraj was born to Iraqi parents in the city of Samawah, his laqab, al-Samawi being derived from his birthplace. His exact birthyear is disputed. According to his own statement, he was born in 1925, whereas other sources claim 1919. Very little is known about his early years, except that he went to Baghdad to complete his education, and graduated from the Rural Teachers’ House in 1940. He began his literary career in the late 1940s with two bayts in classical Arabic poetry genre. He rose to prominence as a left-wing realist poet and committed journalist in the next two decades.

Middle years He began his life in exile in the 1950s. While he was in Lebanon, the Iraqi government at the time, headed by Nuri al-Said, issued a decision to revoke his Iraqi citizenship in 1954, and as a result of this decision he moved to Hungary as a denaturalized citizen, with the help of its government. He stayed in Budapest for several years. After 14 July Revolution, he returned to Iraq and his Iraqi citizenship was restored to him.

Final years and death In 1994, a collection of his poetry from 1950 to 1993 was published in Beirut. An Iraqi writer, Talib Abd al-Amir, used to meet him on more than one occasion in Sweden, and interviewed him twice, about his poetry, journalism and political career. Their last meeting was in Kungsträdgården, Stockholm. , an Iraqi poet who became a refugee in Sweden in 1991, described al-Samawi in an interview in June 2020 as "my friend and my father's friend", saying: "We met almost every day in Stockholm and he always told me about poetry and about the murder of his martyred son, whom he remembered every moment... he was my permanent friend and the closest person to me after my mother and father. I used to talk to him about my life and he was telling me about his life... I was influenced by him and Abd al-Karim Kasid." From early 1990s, he was also in contact with Vivianne Slioa's relative, Salim Bolus Slioa. Samawi assured him that he was a campaigner of revolutionary communist ideas against revisionism.

Al-Samawi spent the last decade of his life in a one-room elderly care apartment in Skärholmen. He did not suffer from any personal or service problems, but complained of loneliness and alienation from his friends while abroad. Al-Samawi died on 15 March 2010 in his last exile, Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Upon his death in Stockholm, President Jalal Talabani ordered the transfer of his body to Iraq by a private plane to be buried in Sulaymaniyah, since he was one of the advocates of the Iraqi Kurdish nationalism. His funeral took place in the city of Sulaymaniyah on 25 March. As per his wishes, he was buried in the city's Saiwan Cemetery.

Works Poetry collections: , 1950 , 1953 , 1954 , 1973 , 1980 , 1984 , 1993 Other works : , 1954 , 1990