Abdullah Kadheim Ruaid was born in 1924. At the beginning of the 1980s; he was a representative of Saddam’s Baath Party in the region of Dujail.
Abdullah Kadhem Ruaid is accused of having participated in the execution of more than 140 inhabitants of the village of Dujail and in the unlawful arrests of approxi-mately 1500 people.
The events in Dujail started to unfold on 8 July 1982 when Saddam Hussein visited the Shiite town to meet with tribal leaders. Dujail was a stronghold of the Shiite Dawa Party which carried out terrorist attacks in Iraq to protest against the war with Shiite Iran. The Dawa party wanted to assassinate Saddam Hussein to avenge the execu-tion of one of its founders. When Hussein’s motorcade entered the city, the Dawa members opened fire. A four hour battle ensued. Saddam Hussein was saved by soldiers and army helicopters. He is said to have given assurances that there would not be any acts of retaliation. However, the secret service soon went into action: the town’s fruit plantations were destroyed and nearly 150 people killed. The youngest victims were 13 years old.
These events in Dujail constitute the main focus of the trial before the Special Tribunal.
Abdullah Kadhem Ruaid was indicted on 1 July 2004. His arrest followed on 21 February 2005.
