BAGHDAD — INA
The Iraqi High Criminal Court issued today, Thursday, a verdict of death by hanging against Ajaj Ahmed Hardan on the background of the crime of genocide against humanity targeting Kurds within the Anfal crimes.
The correspondent for the Iraqi News Agency (INA) stated: "The Iraqi High Criminal Court issued today a verdict of death by hanging against Ajaj Ahmed Hardan."
He explained that "the verdict was issued on the background of his commission of the crime of genocide against humanity targeting Kurds within the Anfal crime."
The National Security Service announced in August of last year, following rigorous intelligence tracking that lasted over six months, the arrest of the aforementioned defendant, whose family had resorted throughout that entire period to claiming his death to mislead security agencies. However, the analysis of intelligence data and its cross-referencing with previous confessions contributed to uncovering his hiding location inside Saladin Governorate, where he was apprehended after completing the necessary judicial approvals and recording the statements of victims and personal right claimants.
During the extensive interrogation sessions conducted by the competent authorities, the defendant gave explicit confessions regarding a series of crimes he committed during his period of service in the Nugrat Salman prison. He confessed to raping a female detainee of Kurdish ethnicity who was targeted by the forced Anfal campaigns, as well as systematically starving detainees inside the prison, and participating in liquidation operations executed by the intelligence apparatus at that time.
The defendant stated that his total period of service reached five years, three of which he spent in Nugrat Salman prison, before being retired following a quarrel according to his claim.
Based on these confessions, testimonies of victims and personal right claimants, and all other evidence concluded by the investigations, the competent court issued its verdict sentencing the defendant to death, as a just retribution for the heinous crimes he perpetrated against the Iraqi people.