Excute Ajaj in Nograt Al-Salman Prison

Hussain Talabani

Written by Author Hussain Talabani.

Ajaj Ahmad Hardan al-Tikriti is considered one of the biggest criminals in the Anfal genocide operations launched by the Ba'ath regime against the Kurdish people. Ajaj practiced various types of torture against the Anfal detainees in Nuqrat al-Salman in horrific ways, as he admitted before the court that he was starving and torturing the detainees with the intention of killing. Witnesses during the trial of the Anfal case before the Iraqi Supreme Court for the crimes of the regime conveyed chilling accounts of the methods of torture practiced by Ajaj.
After the fall of the regime in 2003, Ajaj fled to Syria and settled in the Jaramana area in Damascus. Two of his sons were killed in armed confrontations in the Dhuluiya area, as they belonged to the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
Ajaj returned from Syria, while his family falsely claimed he had died in an attempt to avoid legal prosecution.
After 37 years, the Iraqi National Security Service announced his arrest in Saladin Governorate in a precise intelligence operation that lasted six months.
On Thursday, 14 May, the Iraqi National Security Service announced that the death sentence had been issued against Ajaj Ahmed Hardan on the basis of charges brought against him for crimes related to the Anfal campaigns.
There has been widespread discussion surrounding the convicted criminal, including speculation over where and when his sentence will be carried out. Some have called for the execution to take place publicly or in a public square.
There is a history that I would like to point out. After World War II, Rudolf Heindel, a Gestapo officer who was involved in running the Terezin prison, was arrested. He was tried and executed by firing squad in the same place where prisoners or opponents of the Germans were executed.
I believe the most appropriate place for Ajaj’s execution would be Nugrat al-Salman prison, after serving a period of imprisonment there, with his victims invited to witness the execution in the prison yard — the same place where Ajaj reportedly tied victims to poles for days without water or food under the scorching desert sun.
The issue is not revenge as some might imagine. Because there is a precedent for such provisions and their implementation after World War II, as I mentioned in the case of Rudolf Heindel.
Ajaj is no ordinary criminal. Ajaj is hatred embodied. It is the death that was represented by the deceased Ba'ath regime. Ajaj is another example of Ali, the biggest criminal who carried out the Anfal operations, burning and destroying villages, and striking Halabja and more than 165 Kurdish villages with chemical weapons. He told the Iraqi Supreme Court that he would attack the Kurds a second, third, and fourth time with chemical weapons if he returned to power.