Ajaj, the Executioner of Nugra Salman

Hussain Talabani

Written by Author Hussain Talabani.

Stories of Ajaj's cruelty toward women and children were repeatedly recounted in witness testimonies in the Anfal trial. Ajaj spared no effort in torturing his detainees. For example, he would tie men to iron bars in the prison courtyard without food or water for days under the scorching sun of the Nasiriyah desert. At that time, children would sip water from these poor detainees to keep them alive. Ajaj would extinguish his cigarettes on the faces of infants in their mothers' arms.

Children, even up to the age of twelve, did not survive the hell of Nugra Salman, which Ajaj presided over, due to their inability to resist hunger and disease.

Much has been written about Ajaj's ingenuity in torturing and killing his victims.

Ajaj had two assistants, whom survivors of the Nugra Salman hell have identified as his relatives: Shamkhi and Sakhr. They disappeared after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

The inmates of Nugra Salman endured Ajaj’s brutal custody until September 6, when the general amnesty allowed them to go free, but not to their homes.
 
After the fall of the regime, Ajaj and his aides disappeared, and news of his death spread. It appears that this announcement of his death was a deliberate plan to halt the search for him until he was arrested in the Al-Dhuluiya area of Tikrit, his hometown.

According to the testimony of one of the witnesses in the Anfal case, while she was being held in Nugra Salman, she heard that Ajaj was related to Saddam Hussein, who listened to the witness's testimony. After listening to the witness, Saddam Hussein neither supported nor denied the witness's claim. Perhaps this kinship explains why Ali Hassan al-Majid (Chemical Ali), also known for his cruelty, relied on this devil to detain and kill the victims of the Anfal operations.

Ajaj is a treasure trove of information, given his position, about the mass grave sites in the Nasiriyah desert, as well as about those involved in the killings and the mechanisms behind them. The Anfal file must remain open, and the Kurdistan Regional Government must pay attention to this sensitive issue by opening research and investigation centers led by specialists trained in such delicate and sensitive topics. The search for others involved in the killings must continue, and they must be brought to justice. Bringing Ajaj to justice will send a message to the victims that justice will prevail and that the criminals of Nugra Salman will one day receive their just punishment.