Preceded by Taha Mohieddin Maruf Role Fighter Name Taha Ramadan | Preceded by Saddam Hussein | |
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Succeeded by Ibrahim Jaafari and Rowsch Shaways Political party Iraqi Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Died March 20, 2007, Baghdad, Iraq Similar People Ali Hassan al‑Majid, Tariq Aziz, Uday Hussein, Izzat Ibrahim al‑Douri, Qusay Hussein | ||
Succeeded by Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri | ||
Taha Yasin Ramadan al-Jizrawi (Arabic: طه ياسين رمضان الجزراوي; 1938 – 20 March 2007) was a prominent Iraqi Kurd, serving as one of the two Vice Presidents of Iraq from March 1991 to the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.
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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 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.
He was one of the defendants in the Iraq Special Tribunal's Al-Dujail trial. On November 5, 2006, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. On December 26, 2006, the appeals court sent the case file back to the Tribunal, saying the sentence was too lenient and demanding a death sentence. On February 12, 2007, he was sentenced to death by hanging. His sentence was carried out on the fourth anniversary of Iraq's US invasion, before dawn on March 20, 2007.
Proposed resolution to United States-Iraq conflict
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. He reasoned this would not only serve as an alternative to a war that was certain to damage Iraq's infrastructure, 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 President Bush, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer declined the offer.