A
piece of the rope that was used to execute former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein
has been put up for auction with the latest bid standing at US$7 million.
The
current owner of the morbid object is Iraqi politician Dr. Mawaffak al-Rubaie,
who led the dictator to his death.
Numerous
people, including a rich Israeli family, a religious organization in Iran and
two Kuwaiti businessmen have expressed a serious interest in buying it, Middle
East news website, Al-Araby al-Jadeed, reported.
However,
another current affairs website, Middle East Eye, says that Dr. Al-Rubaie wants
more cash than the US$7 million offered so-far.
 |
|
|
Saddam
Hussein, the former President of Iraq, was in power for more than 23 years until
being deposed from power by an American-led invasion in 2003. Hundreds of
thousands of people, including many Kurds and Shias, are believed to have been
killed during his brutal rule on account of their political and religious
views.
Caleb
Maupin, a political analyst, told RT: "This
just shows how cheap justice has become when they are selling the implements of
execution - profits really dominate everything, nothing is really sacred. If
you look at all the countries the US has invaded whether it's Iraq,
Afghanistan, Libya, Yugoslavia, which suffered from US bombing, never did they
bring stability, never did they bring peace. They bring chaos and destruction.
War is really motivated by profits and this is just a further illustration of
that."
Dr.
Al-Rubaie was himself tortured by forces working for Saddam because of his
political beliefs. He believes that Saddam deserved to be executed and he told
the Independent in 2013 that he had nothing but contempt for the old man as he
led him to the gallows.
“I
was hoping to see him show some remorse for the terrible crimes, the hundreds
of thousands of his own citizens that he and his henchmen killed. But there was
nothing,” he said.
However,
the grisly auction has sparked criticism from human rights groups, while one
campaigner, Ahmeed Saheed, told Al-Araby-Al-Jadeed that he thinks the proceeds
from any sale should be given to the Iraqi treasury.
Saddam
was found guilty of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal in
2004, although many rights groups including Amnesty International believed the
trial to have been unfair.
As many as 206,000 people
have died since the US invasion in 2003, and the country is now battling a
bloody insurgency, with Islamic State militants in control of many areas of the
north and west of Iraq, amid other sporadic acts of violence, bombing and
killings between the Sunni and Shia populations.
No comments:
Post a Comment