Taha Yasin Ramadan al-Jizrawi ( ar, طه ياسين رمضان الجزراوي; (1939 – 20 March 2007) was an Iraqi politician and military officer of Kurdish origin, who served as one of the three

vice presidents of Iraq A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

from March 1991 to the fall 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 revolutio ...

in April 2003. Following the fall of Saddam's government, Taha Yasin Ramadan was placed on the

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 ...

and depicted as the ''Ten of Diamonds'' in the

most-wanted Iraqi playing cards During the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States–led coalition, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency developed a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of President Saddam Hussein's government, mostly high-ran ...

. He was captured on August 19, 2003, in

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

, by fighters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and handed over to US forces. He was one of the defendants 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 ag ...

's Al-Dujail trial. On 5 November 2006, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. On 26 December 2006, the appeals court sent the case file back to the Tribunal, saying the sentence was too lenient and demanding a death sentence. On 12 February 2007, he was sentenced to death by hanging. His sentence was carried out on the fourth anniversary of Iraq's US invasion, before dawn on 20 March 2007.

Proposed resolution to United States–Iraq conflict

In October 2002, four months before the United States invaded Iraq, Ramadan suggested 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 Saddam Hussein settle their difference in a duel. He reasoned this would not only serve as an alternative to a war that was certain to damage Iraq's infrastructure, but that it would also reduce the suffering of the Iraqi and American peoples. Ramadan's offer included the possibility that a group of US officials would face off with a group of Iraqi officials of same or similar rank (President v. President, Vice President v. Vice President, etc.). Ramadan proposed that the duel be held in a neutral land, with each party using the same weapons, and with

UN Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...

presiding as the supervisor. On behalf of Bush, White House Press Secretary

Ari Fleischer Lawrence Ari Fleischer (born October 13, 1960) is an American media consultant and political aide who served as the 23rd White House Press Secretary, for President George W. Bush, from January 2001 to July 2003. As press secretary in the Bush ...

declined the offer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramadan, Taha Yasin 21st-century executions by Iraq 1938 births 2007 deaths Vice presidents of Iraq People executed by Iraq by hanging Iraqi Kurdish people Kurdish politicians People from Mosul Iraqi Sunni Muslims Iraqi people convicted of crimes against humanity Executed Iraqi people Executed Kurdish people Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region People executed for crimes against humanity Iraqi politicians convicted of crimes People of the 1991 uprisings in Iraq Heads of government who were later imprisoned Executed mass murderers