Iraq: Boy's killer to be first public execution since Saddam Hussein's rule

The Awenis lived in a two-storey house on a dusty road in western Baghdad. To their neighbours they were just another family and no-one suspected that they were capable of abducting a local boy, collecting a ransom for his release, killing him and dumping his body in an acid bath.

The public response to the murder of 11-year-old Muntadher al-Mussewi has led the Iraqi Government to make plans for the 1st public execution since the fall of Saddam Hussein, The Times has learnt. In a departure from the legal practices that the West has tried to encourage, the Governor of Baghdad has declared his support for such an execution and an aide to Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, has discussed the matter with members of the boy's tribe.

Government officials said that they feared an outbreak of mass violence if proper vengeance was not seen to be exacted. Police have already broken up an armed stand-off between the Mussewi tribe and the kidnappers Aweni tribe. Both are connected to the top two Shia militia groups.

Two uncles of the leading kidnapper have given written pledges to the judge presiding over the case and the local police commander that they approve of a public execution in a bid to prevent further violence.

Officials have designated a spot outside the home of the dead boy for a hanging and have broadcast the location from the speakers of mosques in the neighbourhood of Hay al-Amel. No date has been set because the official sentencing has yet to take place, but that seems a formality.

The case illustrates how deeply violence has taken root in Iraq, as well as how important tribes are in Iraqi politics and how ambivalent many Iraqis feel about the values that the West has tried to promote since the war in Iraq in 2003.

On September 30, Muntadher left his parents' home in a rough part of Baghdad to visit his grandfather two streets away. On a street corner he was kidnapped by Muhanned al-Aweni and held captive only a minute's walk away in his home. Two days later the kidnappers sent the parents a picture of the boy and a ransom demand. During negotiations over the next 48 hours the demand was reduced from $80,000 to $25,000, which the family says it paid.

Munaf al-Mussewi, the boys father, said: "I delivered the money myself. I never saw the kidnappers, but they told us over the phone Muntadher would be released the next morning.

"We waited but he never came. I could never imagine I was betrayed by my own neighbours. Nothing is safe. The people you live among steal your children and kill them."

According to police sources, al-Aweni, aided by his mother Khaula and his cousins Taha and Ali, bludgeoned the boy to death on the first day, fearing that he could identify them. They tried to get rid of his body by dissolving it in battery acid, which they had access to in large quantities through their militia contacts, who had used it in sectarian killings several years ago.

A week later the remains of Muntadher were found in a plastic bag in the neighbourhood. Pictures of his blackened and partially decomposed body were printed on posters by the family and put up around western Baghdad.

Soon the Mussewi tribe started a hunt for the killers. The ransom negotiations had been conducted by mobile telephone and a court order helped the Mussewis to find telephone records that incriminated the mother of al-Aweni.

Dozens of armed men surrounded the house where she was known to live. Police intervened before the conflict escalated and arrested several of the Awenis. Within hours the house had been looted, the front peppered with bullet holes and the walls covered in red writing saying "owing a blood debt" and "the house of the abusers is destined for ruin."

After the Awenis made a confession, the father of the dead boy vowed vengeance. He said: "I want them to be executed right in front of my house. Only then will my heart, and that of Muntadher's mother, cool down again." For fisteen days the Iraqi police sealed off the neighbourhood to prevent tribal warfare.

Bassam, a resident, said: "There was going to be a big battle. The Mussewis were ready to attack the Awenis."

The Awenis, who come from southern Iraq, were known for gun-running and sheep smuggling during the rule of Saddam. They have since been implicated in various criminal enterprises.

Several members are allegedly commanders in the al-Mahdi Army, the militia of Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shia cleric.

The Mussewis are more powerful. As direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, they are a dominant force in the other big Shia militia, the Badr Brigades, which is allied to the largest Shia party. Members of the tribe are found in parliament and the military's Baghdad command. The police chief of Basra and the dean of Baghdad university are Mussewis.

The police lifted the blockade of Hay al-Amel last week after the tribes agreed to a public execution. Two senior Awenis, Jabar and Kareem, said in writing: "We strongly denounce this crime and demand the criminal's execution nearby."

In return, Jacoub al-Mussewi, the uncle of the victim, said: "I accept that a public execution will reinstate my rights and dignity, which have been abused."

Separately, 37 sheikhs from the Mussewi tribe and commanders of the Badr Brigades have met Salah Abdul Razzaq, the Baghdad Governor, and Hassan Salman al-Saedi, a tribal adviser to the Prime Minister, to discuss the executions.

The Mussewis have calmed down for now, but if the executions are delayed then the tribes and with them the two main Shia militias could still come to blows.

Bassam, the Hay el-Amel resident, said: "The Iraqi Army has told people in the neighbourhood that the execution will be public. We have not seen that since Saddam's time."

The former dictator held public executions regularly to terrorise the population and to appease powerful victims of crime. A government official involved in the Aweni case said: "We have received the demand for public executions and are prepared to support it."

State killings

Under Saddam Hussein's regime, mass executions were commonplace. On a single day, October 12, 1999, at least 100 prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison were executed

The number of executions carried out by countries around the world almost doubled in 2008, with an average of 7 people put to death every day. The countries that use executions the most are China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the US. These five account for 93 % of all state killings.

In China an estimated 8,000 people are executed every year far more than any other country.

Iraq executed at least 34 people in 2008, and plans to put to death another 128 by the end of 2009 in batches of 20 at a time. At least 9 women are on death row.

The state of Texas executed 18 people in 2008.

Sources: London Times, Amnesty International, Nov. 2, 2009