Bedir Khan Bey was the emir of Cizre (the emirate of Bohtan). Bedir Khan Bey, the emir of Hakkari, and the emir of Mûkûs all took part in a rebellion against the Ottoman government. Bedir Khan Bey started the rebellion in 1842, but in 1846 the Ottomans took him prisoner and he went into exile. In 1849, the government took away the authority of Hakkari's emir, Nurullah Bey. The Ottoman government also took away the power of the Baban emirate, and they took control of Sulaymaniyah themselves. In the towns and cities, the Ottoman and Qajar governments of Kurdistan started new schools, newspapers, law courts, and government councils. In the countryside however, where most Kurds lived, modernization brought new taxes and conscription into the army. Sufi religious leaders – sheikhs – started to have more power in Kurdistan. Some Kurdish sheikhs helped the Ottoman army fight the army of the Russian Empire during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). However, Kurdish sheikhs also worked against the government. One sheikh who had fought for the Ottoman side in the war, Sheikh Ubeydullah, started a rebellion against the Ottoman government.