ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Forty people suspected of spreading Ba’athist ideologies of former dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime and planning sabotage attacks have been arrested, Iraqi security forces announced on Sunday.
“Security detachments carried out qualitative operations that resulted in the arrest of 40 suspects involved in managing and financing sectarian content and seeking to carry out sabotage operations,” the Iraqi National Security Agency (INSS) said in a statement.
The law criminalizing the promotion of the Baath Party in Iraq was activated on July 30, 2016. It criminalized membership in, and promotion of, the dissolved Ba'ath party in Iraq, as well as any similar groups or ideologies
“These misguided elements resorted to false rhetoric that promoted the banned Ba’athist regime as a cover for marketing their dead dreams and inciting against the state,” the security agency added.
A clandestine cyber group called “Brigade 66” which is managed from outside the country and spreads Ba'athist ideologies was also monitored.
“Some of them [the suspects] confessed to receiving guidance and support from fugitive elements outside the country,” the INSS said.
The Arab Socialist Baath Party ruled Iraq from 1968 until it was toppled in 2003 by a United States-led invasion that removed its leader, Hussein. The party has since been banned under Article 7 of the Iraqi constitution, which outlaws adopting, glorifying, or promoting the symbols and propaganda of the former regime.
Hussein’s oppressive regime was responsible for numerous crimes against humanity, including the Anfal genocide against the Kurds. The campaign reached its deadliest point in 1988 with the Halabja chemical attack, which killed around 5,000 people and injured 10,000 more.
The dictator was executed in 2006 after being sentenced to death in a separate case for the killing of 148 Shiites. His trial on charges related to the Anfal genocide was still ongoing at the time of his execution.
