Iraq: former vice president remembers late judge who sentenced him to death

The former Vice President of Iraq, Tariq Al-Hashimi has commented on the death of the judge who once sentenced him and several of his guards to death. On Saturday, the Iraqi Bar Association announced the death of the head of the Supreme Criminal Court, Judge Baligh Hamdi.

“Judge Hamdi has passed away,” Al-Hashimi wrote on Twitter. “He was excessive in issuing death sentences. He wronged me and sentenced me to three death sentences, but I did not commit a crime, or even a violation punishable by law. This also applies to my guards.”

Al-Hashimi concluded his tweet by saying, “The judge is dead and the convicted is still alive. Life and livelihood are in His hands, Glory be to Him. We belong to God and to Him we shall return.”

Hamdi issued death sentences against Al-Hashimi and his guards in 2012, when Nouri Al-Maliki was prime minister of Iraq. Al-Hashimi is one of the most prominent Sunni political leaders in Iraq and was a major opponent of Al-Maliki.

After being accused in December 2011 of leading a number of “death squads”, which was followed by the issue of an arrest warrant for him, Al-Hashimi fled to the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, and then travelled to Qatar and Saudi Arabia before going to Turkey. He denied all the allegations made against him, stressing that they were fabricated for political reasons because of his differences with Al-Maliki.

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