BAGHDAD,— Iraq’s National Security Agency announced Friday the arrest of a former high-ranking security official accused of involvement in the 1980 execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and his sister during Saddam Hussein’s crackdown on religious opposition.
According to the agency, Saadoun Sabri Jamil Jumaa al-Qaisi, a former top security official, was arrested in connection with the execution of Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr and his sister, Amina Haydar al-Sadr, widely known as Bint al-Huda al-Sadr.
Their deaths were part of Saddam’s efforts to suppress Shiite dissent, particularly following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, which heightened fears of an uprising in Iraq.
Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, a leading Shiite scholar and political critic, was an outspoken opponent of Saddam’s Ba’athist government.
His sister, a religious scholar and activist, also spoke against government oppression. In 1980, amid a broader crackdown on Shiite activists, both were arrested, reportedly tortured, and executed by hanging on April 8, 1980.
Iraqi officials have long maintained that the government refused to return their bodies, fearing their graves could become symbols of resistance. Their executions further fueled Shiite opposition to Saddam, contributing to the eventual fall of his regime.
A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly, told The Associated Press that al-Qaisi was one of five individuals detained five months ago as part of the investigation.
Al-Qaisi held senior positions in Saddam’s security apparatus, including director of state security and head of security in Basra and Najaf. He is accused of overseeing the detention and execution of al-Sadr.
Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, born in 1935 in al-Kadhimiya, was an Islamic scholar, philosopher, and key ideological figure behind the Islamic Dawa Party.
He was the father-in-law of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and a cousin of both Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr and Imam Musa as-Sadr.
His father, Haydar al-Sadr, was a highly respected Shiite cleric, and his lineage traces back to the seventh Shiite Imam, Musa al-Kazim.
(With files from AP | Wikimedia)
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