AhlulBayt News Agency: An Iraqi criminal court has sentenced two men to death for their involvement in the 1980 execution of prominent Shia cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister, Bint al-Huda, during the brutal crackdown by Saddam Hussein’s regime on political and religious dissent.
According to a statement issued Monday by the Iraqi National Security Service, the court convicted Saadoun Sabri Jamil Jumaa al-Qaisi and Haitham Abdul Aziz Faiq for their role in the assassination, which also targeted members of the Islamic Dawa Party and other civilians. The agency noted that the arrests were made under judicial oversight as part of Iraq’s ongoing transitional justice process.
According to PressTV, Ayatollah Sadr, a highly respected Shia religious scholar and political thinker, was a vocal critic of the former Ba’athist regime. His opposition intensified following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, heightening fears within Saddam’s inner circle about a possible insurrection among Iraq’s Shia population.
In 1980, amid a sweeping crackdown on Shia activists, Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda—a noted religious intellectual and advocate for women’s rights—were detained by regime forces. Both reportedly endured torture before being executed by hanging on April 8 of that year. Their bodies were never returned to their family, as authorities feared their burial sites might become rallying points for anti-regime sentiments.
Ayatollah Sadr was also the father-in-law of influential Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. His execution galvanized opposition to Saddam Hussein and contributed to the broader resistance that ultimately led to the collapse of the Ba’ath regime.
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