Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti (17 February 1951 – 15 January 2007) ( ar, برزان إبراهيم الحسن التكريتي), also known as Barazan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Barasan Ibrahem Alhassen and Barzan Hassan, was one of three
half-brothers
A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child.
While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separat ...
of
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
, and a leader of the
Mukhabarat
( ar, مخابرات, also transliterated '' / ''), is the Arabic term for intelligence, as used by an intelligence agency. In most of the Middle East, the term is colloquially used in reference to secret police agents who spy on civilians. Organi ...
, the
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
i intelligence service. Despite falling out of favour with Saddam at one time, he was believed to have been a close presidential adviser at the time of his capture by
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
forces. On 15 January 2007, Barzan was
hanged
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...
for
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
. He was
decapitated by the
hangman's rope after errors were made calculating his body weight and length of drop from the
platform.
High position in Iraqi government
Barzan was a leading figure in the Mukhabarat, the intelligence service that performed the role of
secret police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
from the 1970s, and later took over as director. During his time in the secret police, Barzan played a key role in the Iraqi regime's execution of opponents at home and assassinations abroad. He was also known for his ruthlessness and brutality in purging the
Iraqi military of anyone seen as disloyal.
Barzan became Iraq's representative to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
—including the UN
Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per y ...
—in 1989. He was in Geneva for almost a decade, during which he is believed to have managed clandestine accounts for Saddam's overseas fortune. This task was then taken over by a network of foreign brokers, since the Iraqi President had decided that no one in Iraq could be trusted with the task.
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
officials characterized Barzan as a member of what they called "Saddam's Dirty Dozen", responsible for
torture and mass murder in Iraq. Barzan was the five of clubs (queen of hearts according to
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
) in the
U.S military's most-wanted Iraqi playing cards.
Post-invasion
Barzan was among the leadership figures U.S. forces targeted during the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
. In April 2003, warplanes dropped six satellite-guided bombs on a building in the Iraqi city of
Ramadi
Ramadi ( ar, ٱلرَّمَادِي ''Ar-Ramādī''; also formerly rendered as ''Rumadiyah'' or ''Rumadiya'') is a city in central Iraq, about west of Baghdad and west of Fallujah. It is the capital and largest city of Al Anbar Governorate whi ...
, west of
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, where he was thought to be.
U.S. Army Special Forces
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army.
The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal m ...
captured Barzan alive on 17 April 2003; the news was publicly confirmed late summer 2003, with Barzan surrounded by a large entourage of bodyguards in Baghdad. He was turned over to
Iraq's Interim Government on 30 June 2004, and
arraigned on 1 July 2004.
Trial and courtroom charges
Barzan's trial started on 19 October 2005. He was a defendant in the
Iraq Special Tribunal
The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT), formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal and sometimes referred to as the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal, is a body established under Iraqi national law to try Iraqi nationals or residents accused of genocide, crimes aga ...
's
Al-Dujail trial, and
Abd al-Semd al-Husseini was his defense counsel. In the first stage of the trial, Barzan stood before a five-judge panel for the
Dujail Massacre. He was charged for
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
, simultaneously with seven other former high officials (
Taha Yassin Ramadan,
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
,
Awad Hamed al-Bandar
Awad Hamad al-Bandar ( ar, عواد حمد البندر السعدون, ʿAwād Ḥamad al-Bandar al-Saʿdūn; (2 January 1945 – 15 January 2007) was an Iraqi chief judge under Saddam Hussein's presidency. He was a member of the Arab Socialist ...
,
Abdullah Kadhem Roweed Al-Musheikhi,
Ali Daeem Ali Ali Dayeh Ali (1940 - 2015) served as an Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party official in Dujail in 1982, where he was accused of involvement in the executions of 148 Shia Muslims in the area. He was tried alongside Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ...
,
Mohammed Azawi Ali and
Mizher Abdullah Roweed Al-Musheikhi Mizhar Abdullah Ruaid (born 1952) is a former Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party official in the Dujail region of Iraq, and the son of Abdullah Kadhem Ruaid. He was arrested in 2005 by US Forces while still living in Dujail. The arresting unit was the A/1 ...
). They were said to have ordered and overseen the killings, in July 1982, of more than 140
Shiite men from
Dujail, a village 35 miles north of Baghdad. The men were allegedly killed in retribution after an 8 July 1982 attack on the presidential motorcade as it passed through the village. It was alleged that, in addition to the killings, hundreds of women and children from the town were jailed for years in desert
internment camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
s, and that
date palm
''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Eas ...
groves, which sustained the local economy and were the families' livelihood, were destroyed.
During the first court session on 19 October 2005, Barzan pleaded
not guilty. During his trial, he became known for his angry outbursts in court and was ejected on several occasions.
In the weeks following the first audience, serious security concerns for the defense team of Saddam and the other accused became apparent. On 21 October 2005, 36 hours after the first hearing, a group of unidentified armed men dragged one of the defense attorneys from his office in east Baghdad and shot him dead. A few days later, a second lawyer was killed in a drive-by shooting, and a third, injured in that attack, subsequently fled Iraq for sanctuary in
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
.
As a result, calls for the trial to be held abroad were heard. The defense lawyers, supported by the
Iraqi Bar Association
The Iraqi Bar Association (Arabic: ?, also translated in English as Union of Lawyers in Iraq or Iraq's lawyers' union), created in 1933, is the biggest lawyers' association in Iraq, with tens of thousands of members as of 2007. It is a member of t ...
, imposed a boycott on the trial until their security concerns were met with specific measures. A few days before the trial was to resume, the defense team announced that it had accepted offers of protection from Iraqi and U.S. officials and would appear in court on 28 November 2005. The agreement is said to have included the same level of protection offered to the Iraqi judges and prosecutors, with measures such as armored cars and teams of bodyguards.
After a short court session on 28 November 2005, during which some testimony regarding the killings in Dujail was presented, Judge
Rizgar Mohammed Amin
Rizgar Mohammed Amin ( ar, رزكار محمد أمين) (born 1957) is the former chief judge of the Iraqi Special Tribunal's Al-Dujail trial. He is the only judge whose name was revealed on the trial's opening on 19 October 2005, the names of t ...
ordered a one-week adjournment until 5 December, to grant the defense teams time to find new counsel.
On 12 March 2006, the prosecutor announced that if Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants were sentenced to death in the Dujail case, the sentence would be carried out as soon as possible. Thus, the other cases for which they were indicted would not be heard in court. On 19 June 2006, the prosecutor asked the court, in his closing arguments, that the death penalty be imposed upon Barzan, Saddam, and Ramadan.
On 5 November 2006, Barzan was sentenced to death by hanging.
Appeals
A sentence of death or life imprisonment generates an automatic appeal. On 3 December 2006, the defense team lodged an appeal against the verdicts for Barzan, Saddam, and al-Bander, who had been sentenced to death. On 26 December 2006, the appeals chamber confirmed the verdict and the death sentence against Barzan.
In November 2006, Iraqi President
Jalal Talabani appealed for Barzan to be moved to medical facilities to receive treatment for his spinal cancer. Barzan originally made an appeal from his cell to U.S. President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and to Talabani for treatment, referring to the latter as an "old friend".
Botched execution
On 15 January 2007, the death sentence was carried out. Barzan, along with co-defendants Saddam Hussein and the former
Chief Justice of the Iraqi Revolutionary Court al-Bandar, were
sentenced to death by
hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
. Barzan was originally scheduled to hang on 30 December with Saddam (as he and al-Bandar wished) but due to the
Eid, lack of time, and lack of a helicopter to deliver them, as well as international pressure, the hangings were postponed to 15 January. Barzan's sentence was carried out at 03:00 local time (00:00
UTC) on 15 January 2007. His death was confirmed at 3:05/00:05 UTC. Barzan was
decapitate
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
d by the long drop, the accidental result of the hangman using a rope that was too long. As with Saddam's hanging, Barzan's and al-Bandar's counsel was not allowed to attend.
Reaction to the execution
On 15 January,
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...
said in a news conference with the Egyptian foreign minister:
"We were disappointed there was not greater dignity given to the accused under these circumstances."
In a press briefing by
British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
's official spokesman, in response to a question as to Blair's reaction to the "botched hanging" in Iraq, the spokesman said:
"In terms of the death penalty in Iraq, our position on the death penalty is well known, and we had made that position known to the Iraqi Government again since the death of Saddam Hussein. However, Iraq is a sovereign Government, and therefore has a right under international law to decide its own policy on the death penalty."
Barzan's son-in-law, Azzam Saleh Abdullah, said:
[ "We heard the news from the media. We were supposed to have the information a day earlier, but it seems that the government does not know the rules." He said the execution reflected the hatred felt by the Shiite-led government: "They still want more Iraqi bloodshed. To hell with democracy."
]
See also
*Omar al-Tikriti Omar al-Tikriti ( ar, عمر التكريتي, born ) is the son of Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti and nephew of Saddam Hussein. He is a graduate of Baghdad College, in Baghdad, Iraq.Filkins, Dexter (2005-12-12). Boys of Baghdad College Vie for Prime Min ...
– Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti's nephew
* Execution of Saddam Hussein
*Capital punishment in Iraq
Capital punishment in Iraq is a legal penalty. It was commonly used by the government of Saddam Hussein (who was himself ultimately executed), was temporarily halted after the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq that deposed Saddam, and has since been rei ...
*Hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
– section on "long drop" method
*U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqis
In April 2003, the United States drew up a list of most-wanted Iraqis, consisting of the 55 members of the deposed Ba'athist Iraqi regime whom they most wanted to capture. The list was turned into a set of playing cards for distribution to United ...
References
External links
globalsecurity article on Barzan Ibrahim El-Hasan al-Tikriti
Saddam’s Half-Brother Barzan Al-Tikriti Captured
by DEBKAfile, 20 April 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tikriti, Barzan Ibrahim Al-
1951 births
2007 deaths
21st-century executions by Iraq
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region politicians
Deaths by decapitation
Executed military leaders
Iraqi generals
Iraqi people convicted of crimes against humanity
Executed Iraqi people
People executed by Iraq by hanging
People executed for murder
People from Tikrit
Permanent Representatives of Iraq to the United Nations
Tulfah family
People executed for crimes against humanity
Iraqi politicians convicted of crimes
Directors of intelligence agencies
Executed mass murderers