Awad Hamad al-Bandar (; (2 January 1945 – 15 January 2007) was an

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i chief judge under

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

's presidency. He was a member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and was the head of the Revolutionary Court which issued death sentences against 143 Dujail residents, in the aftermath of the failed assassination attempt on the president on 8 July 1982.

Arrest and trial

After the US invasion, he was formally handed over to the interim Iraqi Government in 2004. On 31 July 2005, at the Al-Dujail trial, the

Iraqi 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 ...

tried al-Bandar for

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

for issuing the death sentences where he pleaded not guilty. On 5 November 2006, al-Bandar was sentenced to death by hanging along with co-defendants Hussein and

Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti (; 17 February 1951 – 15 January 2007), also known as Barzan Hassan, was an Iraqi politician, diplomat and intelligence officer. He was one of three Sibling#half, half-brothers of Saddam Hussein and served as th ...

. His body was buried next to Saddam Hussein's in

Al-Awja Al-Awja () is a village 8 miles (13 km) south of Tikrit, Iraq on the western bank of the Tigris. It is mainly inhabited by Sunni Muslim Arabs. The village is known for being the hometown and place of burial of former Iraqi President Saddam ...

. Al-Bandar's defence counsel consisted of Bader Awad Hamed Alsa'doon as lead defense and Saadoun Antar al-Janabi (also: Sa'doon al-Janabi). The latter was assassinated on 20 October 2005, one day after being abducted from his home in Baghdad.

Execution

The sentence was widely expected to be carried out on 30 December 2006, shortly before 6:00 AM Iraqi local time. Hussein was hanged at 6:05 AM Iraqi local time (0305

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

). Initially, al-Tikriti and al-Bandar were also believed to have been hanged with him. A few hours later, official statements clarified that the executions of al-Bandar and his remaining co-defendant had been postponed to give special significance to the day that Hussein was executed. The United States claimed that it did not have helicopters available to fly the remaining two to the place of execution; the Iraqi government later said that they did not have time. On 3 January 2007, an Iraqi government official told the Associated Press that preparations were under way to hang Saddam's half-brother al-Tikriti, a former intelligence chief, and al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court on Thursday 4 January 2007. Both were hanged before dawn on 15 January 2007. They were pronounced dead at 3:05 AM (0005 UTC). Al-Bandar's legal counsel was not allowed to attend. Hussein and his half-brother al-Tikriti were also not allowed to have their lawyer present when they were executed.

References

External links

Press photo from the Iraqi Tribunal

Over 100 Iraqis killed, 5 u.s. Soldiers die, the day of execution, insurgents' revenge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandar, Awad Hamed Al- 1945 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Iraqi criminals 20th-century Iraqi judges 21st-century executions by Iraq 21st-century Iraqi criminals 21st-century Iraqi judges Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region politicians Executed Iraqi people Executed mass murderers Executed politicians Iraqi mass murderers Iraqi people convicted of crimes against humanity Iraqi politicians convicted of crimes Iraqi Shia Muslims People executed by Iraq by hanging People executed for crimes against humanity Politicide perpetrators