Irani, Abdul Rahman Ibn-Yahya Al-

Born about 1910. Politician and statesman of the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR).

Al-Irani received a religious education and was a judge until 1962. He was arrested on suspicion of having taken part in an antigovernment plot of 1948 and spent five years in jail. In 1954 he was appointed a member of the Supreme Sharia Court. After the revolution of Sept. 26, 1962, he became minister of justice and a member of the Council of the Revolutionary Command; later he was a member of the Presidential Council. In 1963 al-Irani was made vice-president and chairman of the Executive Council of the YAR. In 1964–65 he was a member of the Political Bureau of the YAR, deputy prime minister, and member of the Presidential Council. Since Nov. 5, 1967, he has been chairman of the Republican Council of the YAR.