Skip to main content

Sultan Hashim's death sentence underscores Iraq's deep divisions - The National

Sultan Hashim's death sentence underscores Iraq's deep divisions - The NationalBAGHDAD // The transfer of a former Iraqi defence minister, convicted of crimes against humanity, to Baghdad where he is sentenced to death has reopened old wounds and is stoking simmering political tensions.

Sultan Hashim is one of five top officials from Saddam Hussein's regime sentenced to execution by Iraqi courts. Together with two of the former president's half-brothers and dozens of other senior prisoners, he was turned over from US to Iraqi custody this week, bringing the date of his death closer.

But, while there have been limited complaints about the impending execution of members of Saddam Hussein's family, Hashim's case has proven much more controversial, prompting outcry in political circles and among ordinary soldiers.

The objections produced an unusually quick reaction from Iraq's political elite and, on Wednesday, the presidency council announced it had stayed the execution of Hashim and Hussein Rasheed, a former army chief of staff. The reprieve was not extended to other prisoners facing capital punishment.

Hashim's case embodies many of the complex issues of sectarian and ethnic identity, nationalism, modern day politics and history that Iraq continues to struggle to accommodate.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Israeli school segregated Ethiopian students » Ethiopian Review

Israeli school segregated Ethiopian students » Ethiopian Review : "The placement of four Ethiopian girls in a separate class from their peers at a Petah Tikva grade school has sparked accusations of segregation on Tuesday morning following a report in Yediot Aharonot. According to ‘Hamerhav’ principal, Rabbi Yeshiyahu Granvich, complete integration of the girls was impossible. The reason being, said municipal workers, was that the students were not observant enough, nor did their families belong to the national-religious movement that the school was founded upon. Among the differences in the daily school life of the girls, a single teacher was responsible to teach them all of their subjects. Worse yet, the four were allotted separate recess hours and were driven to and from school separately. Such action has been labeled by observers as “apartheid.”"
Post a Comment
Read more

ei: Pushing for "normalization" of Israeli apartheid

ei: Pushing for "normalization" of Israeli apartheid The Arab League proposed in 2002 what became known as the Arab Peace Initiative to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was an unprecedented, bold offer which promised Israel full normalization in exchange for a complete withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967 and the creation of a Palestinian state. The plan called for a "just settlement" to the Palestinian refugee issue. This, in practical terms, meant renunciation of the right to return, despite this being an individual right under international law of which no state or authority can forfeit on behalf of the refugees. The Arab Peace Initiative was based on what fallaciously became known as the "international consensus" for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that of "two states, for two peoples," championed by the Zionist left as well as Israel's patrons in the West. The plan represented a rare united front a...
Post a Comment
Read more