A Living Martyr

In 1980, two brothers, Haidar (4 years old) and Ahmed (2 years old), were separated in a Baghdad jail cell. Amazingly, four decades later, in Baghdad, they meet again:

After coming to power in 1979, the brutal dictator Saddam Hussein consolidated power by targeting any potential opposition. By the 1980s, Saddam’s thugs were rounding up people by the thousands on the mere suspicion of being in the then outlawed Dawa or Communist Parties.

In September 1980 a man suspected of Being a Dawa member was arrested along with his pregnant wife and two sons Haidar & Ahmed.

Since political prisoners weren’t allowed visitors, Haidar & Ahmed’s grandmother went to the women’s prison in Zafaraniyah in southeast Baghdad under the pretext of visiting a friend’s relative who was imprisoned for apolitical reasons.

Although political prisoners didn’t share cells with apolitical prisoners, they did share bathrooms, so during the visit the grandmother was able to conceal one of the boys under her abaya (loose over-garment).

She chose the elder Haidar who would be less likely to make noises during the exit from the prison & got him out successfully.
Haidar’s mother, father and brother were executed by Saddam’s thugs that year.
Or so Haidar thought.

Last week, Haidar posted a photo of his baby brother on FB to mourn 40 years since his execution.
The post was sent as a screenshot around Iraqi whatsapp groups and was received by a woman who recognized the baby as her adopted brother Ahmed.

She tracked down Haidar and spoke to him, telling him how Ahmed was found at a Baghdad police station in the late 1980s and was given to the mukhtar (neighbourhood chief) for care, who took him in and raised him as his own son.

Today, after 40 years, Haidar flew from Sweden to be reunited with his brother, the living martyr, Ahmed.

As beautiful as this story is, it is an important reminder of the atrocities committed by Saddam and his murderous goons upon the millions of Iraqis who lived decades under his brutal dictatorship, many without closure or justice.
May God have mercy on our martyrs.