Iraqi court sentences ‘executioner of Nugra Salman’ to death for Anfal crimes against Kurds

BAGHDAD — An Iraqi court sentenced former Nugra Salman prison official Ajaj Ahmad Hardan al-Obeidi to death Thursday for crimes committed against Kurdish detainees during the Anfal campaign, as survivors and relatives of victims attended the hearing in Baghdad.

“The court issued a decision sentencing Hajjaj to death,” said Akram Salih, head of the Organization for Defending Anfal Issues, who attended the session at the Baghdad Rusafa Criminal Court. “The families of the Anfal victims, survivors and witnesses who attended the hearing expressed their happiness over the decision.”

Iraq’s National Security Service said al-Obeidi confessed during investigations to raping a Kurdish female detainee, systematically starving prisoners and participating in executions carried out by Iraq’s intelligence service during the Baath era. He served three years at Nugra Salman prison before retiring following an internal dispute, the agency said.

Al-Obeidi was arrested in Salah al-Din governorate in August 2025 after more than six months of intelligence investigations. Relatives had for years circulated claims that he had died in an attempt to mislead security agencies before investigators located and detained him. Around 300 legal complaints were filed against him by relatives of victims from Chamchamal, Garmian and Halabja.

During the first court session last week, survivors traveled from Garmian to Baghdad to testify. Amina Salih, one of the survivors, told 964media she recognized al-Obeidi immediately. “Hajjaj had become weak, but his eyes were still the same,” she said. She said he had beaten her twice with cables inside the prison. “I do not want him to be sentenced to death. I want him to die with punishment and suffering,” she said.

Anfal was carried out between February and September 1988 as a systematic campaign by the Baath regime against the Kurdish population. Human Rights Watch estimated between 50,000 and 100,000 Kurds were killed; Kurdish sources place the figure at up to 182,000. Nugra Salman prison, built in 1930 near Salman in Muthanna governorate, became one of the main detention sites for Kurdish civilians during the 1980s and remains one of the most recognized symbols of repression under the former regime.