Taha Yassin Ramadan

In October 2002, four months before the United States invaded Iraq, Ramadan suggested U.S. President George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein settle their difference in a duel.^[1] He reasoned this would not only serve as an alternative to a war that was certain to damage Iraq's infrastructure,^[2] but that it would also reduce the suffering of the Iraqi and American peoples. Ramadan's offer included the possibility that a group of US officials would face off with a group of Iraqi officials of same or similar rank (President v. President, Vice President v. Vice President, etc.). Ramadan proposed that the duel be held in a neutral land, with each party using the same weapons, and with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan presiding as the supervisor. On behalf of Bush, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer declined the offer.

Following the fall of Saddam's government, Taha Yasin Ramadan was placed on the U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqis and depicted as the "Ten of Diamonds" in the US deck of most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. He was captured on August 19, 2003, in Mosul, by fighters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and handed over to US forces.^[3]

He was one of the defendants in the Iraq Special Tribunal's Al-Dujail trial. On 5 November 2006, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. On 26 December 2006, the appeals court sent the case file back to the Tribunal, saying the sentence was too lenient and demanding a death sentence.^[4] On 12 February 2007, he was sentenced to death by hanging.^[5] His sentence was carried out on the fourth anniversary of US invasion of Iraq, before dawn on 20 March 2007.^[6][7]

Ramadan was born to a peasant family in Mosul.^[8] Sources have claimed he is of Kurdish origin,^[9] while his family has stated he is Arab.^[10]