Mir (also transliterated as Me'īr and Meer) S. Baṣrī (Arabic: مير بصري; 1911-2006) was an Iraqi writer, economist, journalist, politician and poet.

[1] Among many public positions he held, Basri served as the head and central leader of Iraqi and Baghdad's Jewish community.

[5] In 1928, Basri joined the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, going on to hold a number of government positions including many relating to Iraq's Jewish community.

[6] He wrote letters to Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein demanding the rights of the Jewish citizens who began to flee the country one after the other.

[6] In early January 1969, Basri, then-Chairman of the Jewish Council of Iraq, was detained for almost two months for interviewing an American who the Iraqi government alleged to be a spy.

After Basri's arrest, the Jewish poet Anwar Shaul, who held the position of legal advisor to the head of the Mosaic community, wrote a poem in which he said: If I derived my faith from Moses, then I am the one who lives under the shadow of the religion of Muhammad.

What I have gained from my love for the nation of Ahmad, be on the religion of the Prophet, worship him I will remain that Samual in loyalty, whether I am happy in Baghdad or not — Anwar Shaul He sent it to Saleh Mahdi Ammash, who released him, after getting impressed by the poem.

[8][1] Much of his writing is centred on his identity as a Jew living in the Arab world during the establishment of Israel; themes of patriotism, homeland, Zionism, and religion are common.