The former vice-president of Iraq, Taha Yassin Ramadan, was hanged shortly before dawn on Tuesday, the prime minister’s office said. He was the highest-ranking person from Saddam Hussein’s government to be executed after the former president himself.Ramadan was upset and fearful as he was led to the gallows, said Bassam Ridha, the adviser to prime minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki. Witnesses to the execution included representatives of the justice ministry, the interior ministry, and the prime minister’s office. Also in attendance was a judge from the Iraqi high tribunal, the prosecutor in his case and Ramadan’s lawyer.“No, he was not quiet,” said Ridha. “He was scared, terrified, very terrified. You know how a man feels when he is about to be executed. He was not quiet, and he collapsed.” However, in contrast to other recent executions of members of Saddam’s government, the final moments were orderly and according to the Iraqi high tribunal’s procedures, the prime minister’s office said. Ramadan’s lawyer took Ramadan’s final instructions for a will, it said. “The execution went smoothly without any trouble,” Ridha said. “His lawyer was with him from the beginning and watched the entire execution.”Ramadan’s body is expected to be delivered later on Tuesday to his family, but for the security of the family the government would not tell where it would be taken or to whom the body would be delivered. However, he will be buried where he wished to be buried, Ridha said.Ramadan was convicted in November and sentenced to life in prison for his role in killing 148 Shiite residents of Dujail in 1982, but on February 12 an appeals panel ruled that he should be executed.Ramadan is the fourth member of the former government to be executed for his role in the murders. Saddam was hanged for the murders on December 30. Also hanged, on January 15, were two of his close associates: his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamad al-Bandar, the former chief judge.The government in Salahuddin Province, of which Tikrit is the capital, said Ramadan had requested that his body be buried next to Saddam, who is buried in Ouja. That is the village near Tikrit where Saddam was born and which remains a family stronghold.Ramadan, who was Kurdish, was born in Mosul in 1938. He rose through Baath ranks, coming to prominence in 1968 when the Baath Party ousted the president at that time. He became a member of Saddam’s inner circle and held numerous positions in the former government, including deputy prime minister and vice president. He assumed the vice presidency in 1991 and held the post until the government was overthrown by the American-led coalition on April 9, 2003. He was captured by Kurdish forces in Mosul on August 19, 2003.
