Judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death 'is captured and executed by ISIS'

Raouf Abdul Rahman sentenced the dictator to death by hanging in 2006

He was reportedly captured and killed by militants last week

Iraqi government is yet to confirm his death, but have not denied his capture

Judge thought to have been killed in retaliation for death of Saddam Hussein



The judge who sentenced former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to death has been captured and executed by ISIS militants, it is claimed.



Raouf Abdul Rahman, who sentenced the dictator to death by hanging in 2006, was reportedly killed by rebels in retaliation for the execution of the 69-year-old.

His death has not been confirmed by the Iraqi government, but officials had not denied reports of his capture last week.

Judge: Raouf Abdul Rahman (left) who sentenced former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (right) to death has reportedly been captured and executed by ISIS militants

He is believed to have been arrested on June 16, and died two days later.



Jordanian MP Khalil Attieh wrote on his Facebook page that Judge Rahman, who had headed the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal during Saddam's trial, had been arrested and sentenced to death.

'Iraqi revolutionaries arrested him and sentenced him to death in retaliation for the death of the martyr Saddam Hussein,' he said, according to Al-Mesyroon .

Attieh also said that Judge Rahman had unsuccessfully attempted to escape from Baghdad disguised in a dancer's costume.

The Facebook page for Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam's former deputy who has emerged as a key figure among the Sunni militants , also posted that the rebels had been able to arrest Judge Rahman.

Judge Rahmann, who was born in the Kurdish town of Halabja, took over midway through the trial in January 2006 after previous judge Rizgar Amin was criticised for being too lenient in his dealings with Hussein and his co-defendants.



The father of three had graduated from Baghdad University's law school in 1963 and worked as a lawyer before he was appointed as the chief judge of the Kurdistan Appeals Court in 1996.

On trial: The former Iraqi president gives his account to Judge Rahman during his trial in 2006

He oversaw Saddam's trial for crimes against humanity over the killing of 148 people in the town of Dujail following an assassination attempt in 1982, and sentenced him to death by hanging following the guilty verdict.

Judge Rahman had faced claims that he was biased as his home town had been the subject of a poison gas attack in 1988, allegedly ordered by Hussein.

A number of Judge Rahman's relatives were among the 5,000 people killed in the attack, and during the 1980s he was also reportedly detained and tortured by Saddam's security agents.

The judge later criticised the way the execution was carried out in December 2006, saying in 2008 that it should not have been carried out in public and branding it 'uncivilised and backward'.

The hanging had taken place as Sunni Muslims were celebrating the religious festival Eid al-Adha, and a video of the execution showed the former leader being taunted by members of the Shi'ite group.

In March 2007 it was reported that Judge Rahman had applied for asylum in Britain after travelling to the UK with his family on a tourist visa, claiming he feared for his life.

