Word: imamate
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...years the old (seventyish) Imam of Yemen has been as absolute a ruler as history records. In his feudal desert country, it took the Imam's personal signature to get a gasoline permit, authorize a $15 printing job, or order light bulbs for the palace. He clung to every trifle of power...
...last week he was signing nothing, not even orders for the beheading of his foes. The tough, ruffianly old Imam had moved out of his capital city of Taiz and established himself and his 40 women four miles away in the pleasure palace of Sala. The Imam was wasted by disease and wounds. Four months ago, the third assassination attempt this year left him dreadfully wounded. A string of foreign specialists have patched him up, but the Imam...
Into the seat of power moved the Imam's son, Seif el Islam el Badr, 35, a darkly handsome prince who has led Yemen a few steps out of isolation on a leftist course. Already Defense and Foreign Minister, Badr last week at his father's order became acting Prime Minister and Interior Minister as well. He also since 1955 has worn the title Crown Prince, a reward for saving his father from a revolt by his uncle Abdullah during one of the many and murderous family power struggles that are sprinkled through Yemen's history. Like...
...title of Crown Prince does not as sure Badr of succession. A new Imam is picked by the ulema (learned men) who live in the fortress city of Sana in the north of Yemen. They can choose any male of the royal family or any Yemenite directly descended from the Prophet, of whom there may be as many as 50,000 in Yemen. The ulema do not much like Badr, have refused requests by the Imam to ratify Badr's title. Left-leaning Prince Badr has cultivated the U.A.R.'s Gamal Abdel Nasser, and at his urging...
Badr's rival is one of the Imam's few surviving brothers, Seif el Islam el Hassan, 56, a mild and moral man who is considered pro-Western. Since the 1955 revolt, he has been on the sidelines of Yemeni politics, serving in New York on his country's U.N. delegation...