Zekiya Ismail Haqi Mirza Ismail, joined the ranks of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in 1951, was one of the founders of the Kurdistan Women's Union on December 11, 1952, and became the secretary of the Kurdistan Women's Union in 1953. In 1970, she was elected by the congress delegates as a member of the Central Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (Eighth Congress), and in 1974, she joined the ranks of the Peshmerga Forces.

Biography

Zekiya Ismail Haqi Mirza Ismail, also known as Zekiya Faili, was born in 1939 in the city of Baghdad into a family of Kurdish Faili merchants. She completed her primary, middle, and high school education in Baghdad, then was accepted into the College of Law. In 1957, she received her law degree from the University of Baghdad with the highest honors. In 1966, she received a degree in business administration from a Swiss university. In 1972, she received her master's degree in law from the University of Baghdad with the highest honors, and she received her doctorate in law from an American university. Before the coup of July 14, 1958, she was appointed as a judge in the Executive Board of Baghdad for one month. On June 6, 1962, she was dismissed from her job and banned from practicing law due to her political and Kurdish activities. In 1964, she was released from prison and practiced law. On Saturday, June 19, 1971, she visited the city of Erbil to receive the orphanage building.

On April 28, 1974, after the Iraqi state seized her house, her family was expelled to the liberated areas. In 1974, she was a member of the refugee camp monitoring committee in the Kingdom of Iran. In 1975, after the collapse of the September Revolution she migrated to Iran and returned to Iraq after a while. After the Kurdistan Uprising in 1991, she headed to the liberated areas. In 1993, she went to the United States of America. On Monday, August 23, 2021, she passed away in an American hospital after a long struggle with illness. She was fluent in Kurdish, Arabic, English, and Persian.

Work History

joined the ranks of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in 1951, was one of the founders of the Kurdistan Women's Union on December 11, 1952, became the secretary of the Kurdistan Women's Union in 1953, became a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party – Iraq in 1954, in 1958 she visited Zaim Abdul Karim Qasim (1914-1963) at his headquarters in Baghdad as the head of the Kurdistan Women's Union delegation, in 1959, while she was a member of the Fifth Branch Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, she visited Baghdad to welcome President Mustafa Barzani (1903-1979) from the Soviet Union, on January 16, 1959, she was elected as a member of the general board of the Kurdish Success Club in Baghdad, on March 21, 1959, she participated in the Newroz celebration organized by the United Kurdistan Democratic Party in Khanaqin, in 1959 she was the representative of the Fourth Congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Baghdad, in 1959 she was a member of the High Inspection and Oversight Committee of the Fourth Congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party - Iraq, in the summer of 1959, a meeting of the Kurdistan Women's Union was held at her house to prepare for obtaining an official license from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, in 1960 she was the representative of the Fifth (5) Congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Baghdad, in 1960, she was one of the organizers of the joint trip of the Kurdistan Women's Union and the Kurdistan Students Union to Mount Ezmer in Sulaymaniyah Governorate.

In 1963, she was a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) delegation for negotiations with the Iraqi government. On June 8, 1963, she was arrested along with her children and husband by the General Security Directorate at the Fazil police station in Baghdad and later in the central prison. In 1964, she was released from prison. In the same year, she supervised the secret organizations of the Kurdistan Women's Union. In 1970, at the 8th Congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), she presented the speech of the Kurdistan Women's Union. In 1970, she was elected by the congress delegates as a member of the Central Committee of the Kurdistan Democratic Party Eighth Congress of the Kurdistan Democratic Party she is the second woman to reach the rank of member of the Leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). On September 25, 1970, she was elected by the congress delegates as the Secretary of the First Congress of the Kurdistan Women's Union. On July 17, 1970, on behalf of the Kurdistan Women's Union, she participated in the demonstration for the second anniversary of the success of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and its arrival to power in the city of Baghdad. In mid-1970, she was appointed by the High Committee of the General Census of the Kurdistan Democratic Party as a member of the Information and Awareness Committee of the General Census of Iraq, so that the authorities would not deceive the people by registering them as non-Kurds.

On April 18, 1971, she was elected for the second time by the congress representatives as the President of the Kurdistan Women's Union in the second congress, on April 25, 1971, as the President of the Kurdistan Women's Union, she was appointed as the Vice President of the Iraqi Women's Union, at the end of April 1971, she participated in the Seventh Congress of Arab Women in the Republic of Tunisia, in April 1971, she met with Ludmila Balakhovskaya, Secretary of the Soviet Women's Committee, and discussed bilateral relations and joint cooperation, on May 3, 1971, she was elected as the President of the Women's Union in the meeting of the High Executive Board, representing the Kurdistan Women's Union, she participated in the opening of the seventh congress of the Kurdistan Students Union, on Sunday, June 20, 1971, at the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Youth Union in Baghdad, she and Yadullah Faily received a delegation from the Soviet Youth Union.

On Tuesday, June 22, 1971, at the headquarters of the Kurdistan Women's Union in Baghdad, she received Saddam Hussein (1937-2006), also known as Saddam Tikriti, the Vice President of Iraq. On August 16, 1971, she participated in the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) at the headquarters of the fifth branch committee in Baghdad, on Friday, April 28, 1972, with the foreign delegations visiting the third congress of the Kurdistan Women's Union, at the leadership headquarters September Revolution in Haji Omaran in Erbil province, she met with President Mustafa Barzani, on April 29, 1972, she was elected for the third time by the congress representatives as the Secretary of the Kurdistan Women's Union in the third congress.

In 1974, she joined the ranks of the Peshmerga Forces, on Saturday, July 15, 2000, on the occasion of the passing of her husband, Engineer Yasin Mohammed Karimi, who was a member of the 50-person support committee for the founding of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in 1960, on Wednesday, July 17, 2000, President Masoud Barzani sent a condolence letter to her family.

In 2003, after the fall of the Ba'ath regime, she was appointed as a legal advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Justice and began her work, on December 15, 2005, she was elected to the Iraqi Parliament on the list of the United Iraqi Alliance.

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