Ibrahim Bek

Counter-revolutionary forces 1889–1931 ✕ Executed by shooting

Lakai tribal chief who fought for the restoration of the Emir of Bukhara as the leading Basmachi commander in eastern Bukhara

Born around 1889 in the village of Koktash in the Emirate of Bukhara, the youngest son of an elder of the Uzbek Lakai tribe, he became bek of his tribe in 1920 and entered the service of Emir Said Alim Khan. After the emir fled he rallied the tribes of eastern Bukhara and led the Basmachi in the name of the emir’s restoration. Championing Islamic conservatism, he drove the Jadids from the movement’s ranks and was so suspicious of Enver Pasha that he once arrested him. After withdrawing to Afghanistan in 1926 he kept raiding across the border and also fought Afghan government troops. Captured while crossing the Kafirnigan River on Soviet territory in June 1931, he was taken to Tashkent and shot on 31 August. Uzbekistan’s Supreme Court rehabilitated him in 2021.

Also known as: Ibrahim Bek Lakai · Ibrahimbek Chaqabayev · Ibragim-bek