Mehmet Shehu

Prime Minister of Albania

January 10, 1913 Çorrush, Albania

December 17, 1981(1981-12-17) (68) Tirana, Albania

July 20, 1954 – December 17, 1981

Prime Minister of Albania (1913-1981) Mehmet Ismail Shehu (January 10, 1913 – December 17, 1981) was an Albanian communist politician who served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Albania from 1954 to 1981. As an acknowledged military tactician, without whose leadership the communist partisans may well have failed in their battle to win Albania for the Marxist-Leninist cause, Shehu exhibited an ideological understanding and work ethic that singled him out for rapid promotion in the communist party. Mehmet Shehu shared power with Enver Hoxha from the end of the Second World War. According to official Albanian government sources, he committed suicide on December 17, 1981, after which the entire Shehu clan (his wife, Fiqirete Shehu Sanxhaktari, sons and other of his relatives) were arrested and imprisoned while Mehmet Shehu himself was denounced as "one of the most dangerous traitors and enemies of his country". Persistent rumors remain, however, that Shehu was actually murdered on orders from Hoxha.