Saddam Hussein ‘disposed of’ near ex-PM’s home post-execution
Former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi says Saddam was left between his home and that of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki before he was later taken away.
Former Prime Minister of Iraq Mustafa al-Kadhimi has claimed that the body of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was “disposed” of near the ex-premier’s home in Baghdad after Hussein’s 2006 execution.
In an interview with the Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday, al-Kadhimi specified that Saddam’s body was left in an area between his home and that of Nouri al-Maliki, who was prime minister at the time, in the fortified Green Sea of the city. Zone.
The comments came after al-Kadhimi was asked how often he had seen Saddam.
The ex-premier explained that he had first seen Saddam at his trial before his death, describing the trial as a “very difficult and pivotal moment in Iraq’s history”.
However, the second time would not be until after Saddam’s execution.
“I disapproved of the act (placing his body next to his house), but I saw a group of guards and asked them to stay away from the body out of respect for the dead,” al-Kadhimi revealed in the interview. .
“Yes, it (Saddam’s body) was brought (outside al-Maliki’s house),” said al-Kadhimi. “Al-Maliki ordered its transfer to one of the sheikhs of the al-Nada tribe, Saddam Hussein’s tribe, and so it was collected from the Green Zone.”
He added that “(Saddam) was buried in Tikrit. After 2012, when (the area) came under the control of ISIS (ISIL), the body was exhumed and moved to a secret location unknown to anyone to this day. His children’s graves were also tampered with.”
Prior to his prime ministership from May 2020 to October 2022, al-Kadhimi was the director of Iraq’s national intelligence agency and a known opponent of Saddam’s regime.
In 2003, US-led coalition forces overthrew Saddam’s regime, claiming that the Iraqi president possessed weapons of mass destruction and had a relationship with al-Qaeda, a claim the US has never proven.
After being found guilty of crimes against humanity, Saddam was hanged at dawn on December 30, 2006.
Al-Maliki served as the Prime Minister of Iraq from May 2006 to September 2014 and was the official who signed Saddam Hussein’s death warrant.
The then president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, was against the death penalty in principle.