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Saddam's former deputy 'Taha Yassin Ramadan' hanged
in Iraq
20.3.2007 |
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March 20, 2007
BAGHDAD, -- Saddam Hussein's former deputy
was hanged before dawn Tuesday for crimes against
humanity, the fourth man to be executed in the
killings of 148 Shiites following a 1982
assassination attempt against the former leader in
the town of Dujail.
Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Saddam's vice president
when the regime was ousted, went to the gallows on
the fourth anniversary of the start of the war in
Iraq.
Bassam al-Hassani, an adviser to Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki, said the execution went smoothly,
although Ramadan appeared frightened and recited the
two shahadahs — a declaration of faith repeated by
Muslims — "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is
his Prophet."
Al-Hassani said precautions were taken to prevent a
repeat of what happened to Saddam's half brother and
co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim, who was inadvertently
decapitated on the gallows during his January
execution. |
Taha Yassin Ramadan,
Former Saddam Hussein's vice president |
Ramadan, who was nearly 70, was weighed before the
hanging and the rope was chosen accordingly, al-Hassani
said.
The execution took place at 3:05 a.m. at a prison at
an Iraqi army and police base, which had been the
headquarters of Saddam's military intelligence, in a
predominantly Shiite district in northern Baghdad.
Ramadan had been in U.S. custody but was handed over
to the Iraqis about an hour before the hanging,
according to al-Hassani, who witnessed the hanging.
Al-Maliki has not attended any of the executions,
but representatives from his office, a judge and a
prosecutor attended the hanging, along with members
of the justice and interior ministries and a
physician.
The prosecutor read out the court verdict upholding
the death sentence and al-Maliki's decision to carry
it out, the adviser said, adding that a defense
lawyer who attended the execution received Ramadan's
written will.
The contents were not revealed, although a Sunni
cleric later said Ramadan had asked to be buried
near Saddam.
Yahya Ibrahim, a member of the Association of Muslim
Scholars, said Ramadan's body will be received by
members of Saddam's tribe later Tuesday and will be
buried near co-defendants Ibrahim and Awad Hamed
al-Bandar in Ouja, on the outskirts of Tikrit.
The graves, along with those of Saddam's sons Odai
and Qusai and a grandson Mustafa, are in the
courtyard of the building in which the former leader
is buried. Ibrahim also said three days of mourning
would be held for Ramadan.
Badee Izzat Aref, a lawyer representing several
former regime members, told The Associated Press by
telephone that he was with Ramadan's lawyer when the
condemned man called to report that he would be
hanged.
"He told the lawyer that he was not afraid and asked
him to not to appeal to anybody to stop the
execution," Aref said.
Ramadan also called family members living abroad to
tell them he was to be hanged and ask for their
prayers, Aref said. "He told his family that he is
going to face death with courage."
Ramadan was convicted in November of murder, forced
deportation and torture and sentenced to life in
prison, but an appeals court ruled that was too
lenient and he was sentenced to death. Besides the
four executed, three other defendants were sentenced
to 15 years in jail in the case, while one was
acquitted.
One of the highest-profile figures remaining to be
tried for Saddam-era atrocities is Ali Hassan al-Majid,
one of six defendants facing charges of war crimes
and crimes against humanity stemming from Baghdad's
military campaign in which more than 100,000 Kurds
were killed. Al-Majid, who is Saddam's cousin, also
is known as "Chemical Ali" for allegedly ordering
poison gas attacks.
Ramadan, who became vice president in March 1991 and
was a Revolutionary Command Council member — Iraq's
highest political body under Saddam — maintained his
innocence, saying his duties were limited to
economic affairs, not security issues.
Saddam was executed on Dec. 30 for his role in the
killings. Two of his co-defendants in the Dujail
case — his half brother Ibrahim who was former
intelligence chief, and al-Bandar, former head of
Iraq's Revolutionary Court — were executed in
January.
Ibrahim plunged through the trap door and was
beheaded by the jerk of the thick rope at the end of
his fall, causing a furor; the Iraqi government said
the decapitation was an accident.
Saddam's Dec. 30 execution drew international
outrage after a clandestine video showed the former
president being taunted on the gallows. Another
leaked video showed Saddam's corpse with a gaping
neck wound.
Saddam's regime was predominantly Sunni and many
members of the sect have protested the executions on
the grounds they were politically motivated by the
newly empowered Shiite majority in Iraq.
Ramadan was No. 20 on the U.S. most-wanted list
issued shortly after the invasion began. He had been
arrested in the northern city of Mosul in August
2003 by Iraqi Kurdish soldiers and handed over to US
forces.
Born in 1938 in the northern city of Mosul, Ramadan
joined the underground Baath Party in 1956 and
became close to Saddam. After the 1968 coup by the
party, he held several ministerial posts and became
a member of the regional command in 1969.
During the 1980s, he was deputy prime minister and
was for a time considered the second-most powerful
man in Iraq after Saddam.
He was said to have presided over many purges
carried out by Saddam to eliminate rivals and
strengthen his political control. Ramadan once
headed a court that executed 44 officers for
plotting to overthrow the regime.
He lauded the execution of Iraqi officials found
guilty of bribery as necessary "lessons for the
others" and often took a harder line than Saddam in
denouncing the United States, Israel and other
states deemed hostile to Baghdad.
At the height of the standoff leading up to the war,
Ramadan also suggested in 2002 that Saddam and
President Bush fight a duel to settle their
differences and spare their people the ravages of
war.
AP
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