Taha Yassin Ramadan

Taha Yassin Ramadan

Member of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council
Vice President of Iraq
In office
March 1991 – April 9, 2003
Preceded by Taha Mohieddin Maruf
Succeeded by Ibrahim Jaafari, in the Coalition Provisional Authority
Head of the Iraqi Popular Army
In office
1974[1] – 1991
Born February 22, 1938
Mosul, Iraq
Died March 20, 2007(2007-03-20) (aged 69)
Baghdad, Iraq
Political party Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party

Taha Yasin Ramadan al-Jizrawi (February 22, 1938 – March 20, 2007) (Arabic: طه ياسين رمضان الجزراوي‎) was a prominent Iraqi Kurd[2], serving as Vice President of Iraq from March 1991 to the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.

In October 2002, four months before the United States invaded Iraq, Ramadan suggested U.S. President George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein settle their difference in a duel.[3] He reasoned this would not only serve as an alternative to a war that was certain to damage Iraq's infrastructure,[4] 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 Kofi Annan presiding as the supervisor. On behalf of President Bush, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer declined the offer.

Following the fall of Saddam's government, Taha Yasin Ramadan was placed on the U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqis and depicted as the Ten of Diamonds in the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. He was captured on August 19, 2003 in Mosul, by fighters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and handed over to US forces.[5]

He was one of the defendants in the Iraq Special Tribunal's Al-Dujail trial. On November 5, 2006 he was sentenced to life imprisonment. On December 26, 2006 the appeals court sent the case file back to the Tribunal, saying the sentence was too lenient and demanding a death sentence.[6] On February 12, 2007 he was sentenced to death by hanging[7]. His sentence was carried out on the fourth anniversary of Iraq's US invasion, before dawn on March 20, 2007. [8][9]

References

  1. ↑ "People's Army / Popular Army / People's Militia" (HTML). globalsecurity.org. 2007. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/militia.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-24. 
  2. ↑ "Taha Yassin Ramadan". The Guardian (London). March 21, 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/mar/21/guardianobituaries.iraq. Retrieved May 24, 2010. 
  3. ↑ "BBC article: Bush challenged to 'duel' with Saddam, October 3, 2002". BBC News. 2002-10-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2297371.stm. Retrieved 2009-10-19. 
  4. ↑ From Kelly Wallace (CNN Washington Bureau) (October 3, 2002). "CNN.com - W.H. rejects Bush-Saddam duel offer - Oct. 3, 2002". Archives.cnn.com. http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/10/03/iraq.bush.duel/. Retrieved 2009-10-19. 
  5. ↑ CBS/Associated Press (August 19, 2003). "Saddam's VP Is Captured". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/19/iraq/main569080.shtml. Retrieved 2007-03-20. 
  6. ↑ Associated Press (December 28, 2006). "Iraqi court upholds Saddam’s death sentence". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13163805/. Retrieved 2007-03-20. 
  7. ↑ "Top Saddam aide sentenced to hang". BBS News. February 12, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6354205.stm. Retrieved 2007-03-20. 
  8. ↑ "Former Iraq vice-president hanged". BBC News. March 20, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6468495.stm. Retrieved 2007-03-20. 
  9. ↑ KIM GAMEL (March 20, 2007). "Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's Deputy, Is Hanged Before Dawn" (HTML). Associated Press. http://www2.nysun.com/article/50761. Retrieved 2008-04-24.