00.01 Saddam’s destroyed and defiled face symbolically rises up into Baghdad’s hot sky. The fallen dictator’s enourmous capacity for terror and cruelty is only slowly coming to light. At these gallows thousands of Iraqis were executed on the instruction of Saddam Hussein.
00.22 Saad Abdul Amir was one of Baghdad’s hangmen. For 12 years he served the regime as an executor. Thousands of people were sentenced to hang by his hands.
00.32 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir, Henker?
I learned how you have to position the noose around the neck. At the front, directly on the larynx – it cuts off the breathing. In the back you have to put it on a vertebrae, then the neck breaks. I had assistants who helped to tug on the condemned men’s ropes several times to speed up the death.
00.51 Abu Graibh is Iraq’s largest prison. This is where criminals under Saddam were sent to die. The once overfilled death cells now stand empty. Between the cells is the corridor along which the condemned would make their final walk – to the gallows.
01.18 There are two nooses next to each other here. Victims were often hanged together.
01.25 reporter question?
If you think back... Show your hands. Have you got any idea how many people you hanged, on instructions from Saddam Hussein?
01.44 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir, Hangman
It was a terrible job being Saddam Hussein’s executioner. But it was my obligation to carry out the death sentences to those the state wanted to execute. I had to make money to feed myself. My only comfort was that I also had to hang genuine big criminals. But I know that most of the political prisoners who were killed by my hands were innocent.
02.13 In front of the building of a new organisation created to assist in the release of political prisoners, hundreds of people are waiting to find out what happened to their missing relatives.
02.27 lists of the dead hang on the walls of a former secret service officer. Such lists are only now being dredged up from Secret Police archives. They give details of the day and years these people were executed. Nobody ever informed the relatives. Only now are they finding out the fate of their loved ones.
02.54 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir, Henker Saddams?
Saddam Hussein and his party used to condemn political prisoners to death. The public prosecutor used to come and watch the executions on behalf of Saddam. For me it was painful to have to listen to the last words of the condemned men before I put the cord around the neck and released the trapdoor. Their voices used to haunt me in my dreams at night, they still haunt me.
03.26 This is where political prisoners were held. Up to 80 people were caged in these 5m2 cells, many of them waiting for the death sentence.
03.53 In these so-called ‘correction cells’ several prisoners at a time were often made to spend up to two weeks standing up. One of the typically sadistic punishments dreamt up by Saddam’s eldest son Uday.
04.06 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir, Henker
At precisely this point, close to the death chambers, were the death cells. The men who were going to be executed were moved here. Their last meal was passed through under the door - and they waited for me.
04.22 The Hangman’s assistant would walk the offender up this ramp to the gallows. Those awaiting death would have a sack put over their head and the noose would be slipped around the neck
04.35 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir, Henker to do in the Abu Graibh prison.
I always had a lot to do in Abu Graibh prison. There were political prisoners, criminals, but also women that I had to hang. I was handed a piece of paper with Saddam Hussein’s personal signature on it. A sign has always hung here: May Allah assist the condemned. Hangings happened on Wednesdays and Sundays right after sunset.
05.04 The dictator also mocked the condemned from murals on their way to die.
05.21 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir
We always had a drink before work. Only so we could numb our human feelings. Sometimes we even got illegal tranquilizers sneaked to us by the attendants. We used to go fairly carefree to the gallows. I would turn the condemned upside down and put a bag over his head before I started. After hanging, the dead were taken to a refrigerating chamber. Normal criminals were handed back to the families. Political prisoners, however, were jus slung into a mass grave. The organs were removed for study by medical students.
06.11 These are the mass graves at Abu Graibh prison. Such pits were dug over and over again.
06.22 Saddam’s former Executioner Saad has other worries. He is unemployed, but wouldn’t like to see the old regime back.
06.29 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir
Some of the condemned were brought to the execution place directly by the secret service. They were tortured there for several days. But they still had to swear allegiance to Saddam. They would scream wildly before the secret police silenced them with hits from their sticks to the back. You could scarcely recognise their faces, they were so swollen, and I often heard bones break.
07.03 How many humans were hung here can only be guessed at. More than 600.000 Iraqis were killed while Hussein was in power. Many of them here in Abu Graibh.
07.20 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir
I thank Allah that I do not have to do this job anymore. I suffer so much from the burden now on me, because I killed so many people, even if it was on instruction. I pray now daily to God to forgive me for what I have done. I want to find peace and I hope Allah hears me.
07.45 the Hangman of Bagdad would like to see his country rid of the blood his hands helped to wring, and dreams of a new life.
Report: Gerhard Tuschla Camera: Philip Birkenstock Editor: Werner Schmeisser
00.22 Saad Abdul Amir was one of Baghdad’s hangmen. For 12 years he served the regime as an executor. Thousands of people were sentenced to hang by his hands.
00.32 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir, Henker?
I learned how you have to position the noose around the neck. At the front, directly on the larynx – it cuts off the breathing. In the back you have to put it on a vertebrae, then the neck breaks. I had assistants who helped to tug on the condemned men’s ropes several times to speed up the death.
00.51 Abu Graibh is Iraq’s largest prison. This is where criminals under Saddam were sent to die. The once overfilled death cells now stand empty. Between the cells is the corridor along which the condemned would make their final walk – to the gallows.
01.18 There are two nooses next to each other here. Victims were often hanged together.
01.25 reporter question?
If you think back... Show your hands. Have you got any idea how many people you hanged, on instructions from Saddam Hussein?
01.44 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir, Hangman
It was a terrible job being Saddam Hussein’s executioner. But it was my obligation to carry out the death sentences to those the state wanted to execute. I had to make money to feed myself. My only comfort was that I also had to hang genuine big criminals. But I know that most of the political prisoners who were killed by my hands were innocent.
02.13 In front of the building of a new organisation created to assist in the release of political prisoners, hundreds of people are waiting to find out what happened to their missing relatives.
02.27 lists of the dead hang on the walls of a former secret service officer. Such lists are only now being dredged up from Secret Police archives. They give details of the day and years these people were executed. Nobody ever informed the relatives. Only now are they finding out the fate of their loved ones.
02.54 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir, Henker Saddams?
Saddam Hussein and his party used to condemn political prisoners to death. The public prosecutor used to come and watch the executions on behalf of Saddam. For me it was painful to have to listen to the last words of the condemned men before I put the cord around the neck and released the trapdoor. Their voices used to haunt me in my dreams at night, they still haunt me.
03.26 This is where political prisoners were held. Up to 80 people were caged in these 5m2 cells, many of them waiting for the death sentence.
03.53 In these so-called ‘correction cells’ several prisoners at a time were often made to spend up to two weeks standing up. One of the typically sadistic punishments dreamt up by Saddam’s eldest son Uday.
04.06 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir, Henker
At precisely this point, close to the death chambers, were the death cells. The men who were going to be executed were moved here. Their last meal was passed through under the door - and they waited for me.
04.22 The Hangman’s assistant would walk the offender up this ramp to the gallows. Those awaiting death would have a sack put over their head and the noose would be slipped around the neck
04.35 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir, Henker to do in the Abu Graibh prison.
I always had a lot to do in Abu Graibh prison. There were political prisoners, criminals, but also women that I had to hang. I was handed a piece of paper with Saddam Hussein’s personal signature on it. A sign has always hung here: May Allah assist the condemned. Hangings happened on Wednesdays and Sundays right after sunset.
05.04 The dictator also mocked the condemned from murals on their way to die.
05.21 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir
We always had a drink before work. Only so we could numb our human feelings. Sometimes we even got illegal tranquilizers sneaked to us by the attendants. We used to go fairly carefree to the gallows. I would turn the condemned upside down and put a bag over his head before I started. After hanging, the dead were taken to a refrigerating chamber. Normal criminals were handed back to the families. Political prisoners, however, were jus slung into a mass grave. The organs were removed for study by medical students.
06.11 These are the mass graves at Abu Graibh prison. Such pits were dug over and over again.
06.22 Saddam’s former Executioner Saad has other worries. He is unemployed, but wouldn’t like to see the old regime back.
06.29 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir
Some of the condemned were brought to the execution place directly by the secret service. They were tortured there for several days. But they still had to swear allegiance to Saddam. They would scream wildly before the secret police silenced them with hits from their sticks to the back. You could scarcely recognise their faces, they were so swollen, and I often heard bones break.
07.03 How many humans were hung here can only be guessed at. More than 600.000 Iraqis were killed while Hussein was in power. Many of them here in Abu Graibh.
07.20 O.T. Saad Abdul Amir
I thank Allah that I do not have to do this job anymore. I suffer so much from the burden now on me, because I killed so many people, even if it was on instruction. I pray now daily to God to forgive me for what I have done. I want to find peace and I hope Allah hears me.
07.45 the Hangman of Bagdad would like to see his country rid of the blood his hands helped to wring, and dreams of a new life.
Report: Gerhard Tuschla Camera: Philip Birkenstock Editor: Werner Schmeisser