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Iraq arrests 5 ex-Ba’athist officials over execution of Shia cleric Sadr

February 2, 2025 at 3:04 pm

Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr (R) and his sister Bint Al-Huda (L). [twitter/x @Hydikm]

Iraqi authorities have arrested five former officials linked to the 1980 execution of prominent Shia cleric Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr and his sister, Bint Al-Huda, during Saddam Hussein’s brutal crackdown on religious dissent.

“Through a series of precise intelligence operations, the Iraqi National Security Service (INSS) managed to arrest five of the most notorious criminals from the followers of the former regime, who had recorded pages of terror and mass killing,” INSS spokesperson Arshad Al-Hakim announced Friday in Baghdad.

He added that the arrests were conducted under the Dissolved Ba’ath Party Prohibition Law, with high-level coordination between security and judicial authorities.

Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr, a key political and religious figure who established the Islamic Dawa Party, opposed Saddam’s secular Ba’athist government, particularly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran heightened fears of a Shia-led uprising in Iraq.

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In 1980, as the authorities intensified its repression, he and his sister—a religious scholar and activist—were arrested, tortured, and executed by hanging on 8 April. Their bodies were never returned, as authorities feared their graves could become rallying points for opposition.

Among those arrested was Saadoun Sabri Jamil Jumaa Al-Qaisi, a former director of state security, who fled to Syria after Saddam’s fall in 2003 and lived under the alias “Hajj Saleh.” He returned to Iraq in February 2023 and was arrested in Erbil.

Other detainees include Haitham Abdul Aziz Faiq, accused of overseeing Al-Sadr’s execution; Khairallah Hammadi Abd, a former major general involved in suppressing dissent in 1974; Shaker Yahya, implicated in executions in 1984; and Nimat Mohammed Suhail, accused of leading torture campaigns against university students and opposition figures.

According to the INSS, Al-Qaisi and his co-defendants face possible death sentences, with a final verdict expected next week.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani praised the arrests, stating on X, “We reaffirm our commitment to tracking down criminals, no matter how long they have been on the run.”

Born into a distinguished clerical family which originated from from Jabal Amel in Lebanon, Al-Sadr was the father-in-law of influential Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr. Additionally, he was a cousin to both Muhammad Sadeq Al-Sadr and the Lebanese-Iranian cleric Musa Al-Sadr.

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