The District Court in Tel Aviv began today a hearing to decide whether 17-year-old Abraham Mazaliah is a grandson of the late Iraqi Premier Nurias-Said. The youth is seeking to be recognized as the sole surviving heir of the assassinated Premier and to claim his fortune, estimated to run in the millions of pounds, and believed to be on deposit in British and Swiss banks.
While the court would not agree to hand down a decision whether Abraham. Mazaliah is, as he claims, the sole surviving member of the as-Said family, it did agree to preside over proceedings seeking to establish his relationship as a grandson.
The first witness was his Jewish mother, who testified that she was married to Sabah el-Said, son of Nuri as-Said, in a legal ceremony at Mossol in 1941. She was divorced by Sabah el-Said in 1945 because of the pressure of Moslem religious circles and left for Israel the next year, keeping his identity a secret. Sabah el-Said, together with another wife and two children; were murdered by an Iraqi mob during the Iraqi Army coup in July.
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