The Cutting out of the Tongues of People Who Curse the President
(October 16, 2000)

The Iraqi authorities have started to implement a new measure of punishment on those people who "are insolent to the dignity of President Saddam Hussein". "The cutting out of the tongue of those who curse of express offensive statements about his family" has been decided upon, while Iraqi law proscribes the punishment of execution for those who curse the President.

Travelers arriving from Baghdad have reported on September a group from the "Fidayi Saddam" (Saddam Commandos), under the supervision of the ruling Bath Party Organization, carried out "the cutting out of the tongue" of an Iraqi citizen in Baghdad Al Jadidah district and traveled round the crowded streets of the area with him in a car, using a megaphone to advertise his crime, and the "just punishment" which he had merited because he had reviled the State, and the President, Saddam Hessian.

The Iraqi authorities tattoo foreheads and cut off ears as a punishment for those who desert from military service.

After this punishment of cutting out a tongue, it is feared that the Bath Party and Security authorities in Iraq, will revert to consideration of "confirmation of proof of attacks on the President, the leadership of the Party, and the State" through the recording of such statements on voice tapes with a sensitive recording machine. This was what was relied upon in the past as a instrument for the accusation of hundreds of officers, Baath Party officials, and ordinary citizens who had talked about the mistakes made by the state and had criticized the transformation of Iraq into a private estate for the benefit of its, the President, his family and his relations. It appears that the "Fidayi Saddam" who are supervised by Udai, the eldest son of the Iraqi President, will assume responsibility the implementation of deterrent punishment of those who have been confirmed as cursing the President, or swearing against a member of his family, while the Baath Party organization will carry out the public arrangements for the punishments.

On the other had those arriving from Baghdad have said that Udai had ordered his companies to cut off hands and the feet of Abdul Wahhab after the latter had fetched from the place where he was detained in the Directorate of the Public Security to the Private tribunal composed of Udai and a number of members of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee, at one of the farms belonging to the President's son in the suburbs of Baghdad. The travelers said that Abdul Wahhab "who was arrested three months ago after he had been accused of attacking Udai in front of a number of his companies, had been confined thereafter in one of the Directorate of Public Security's prisons". Abdul Wahhab was a report commentator.