Ali Mahir Pasha (1882, Cairo, Egypt – 25 August 1960, Geneva, Switzerland) was an Egyptian statesman who served as prime minister three times. He came from a noble family. After studying law, he became a judge.
Prior to World War I, he sided with conservative political groups who thought it possible to cooperate with the British Empire, which had invaded Egypt in 1882, to advance Egypt's economic and social progress. He then entered the service of the king and was appointed head of the royal law school in 1923. He played an important role in determining the outlines of the new constitution, which was adopted in the same year and consolidated the power of the kingdom.
He served as minister of education and finance in successive governments. In 1935, he was appointed head of the newly formed royal cabinet by King Fuad. He was appointed head of the provisional government established at the end of the same year. For the next two years, he served as prime minister and then again as head of the royal cabinet. He became prime minister again in 1939 and World War II. When World War II broke out, he made various attempts against Germany in accordance with the Anglo-Egyptian treaty in force. But when Italy declared war on England in 1940, it refused to break diplomatic relations with that country and used the war as a tool to undermine Britain's position in Egypt. Due to these practices, he was dismissed at the initiative of the British and remained in custody from April 1942 until the end of the war.
He remained away from politics until the royal government was overthrown in 1952 by a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. The revolutionaries, who thought that Mahir Pasha could provide stability in the country by pacifying conservative circles, appointed him as prime minister on July 24, 1952, one day after the revolution. But Mahir Pasha fell into conflict with the revolutionaries about land reform and retired after less than a year.
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