Hadi’s brutal murder. Friday January 14, 2005
We unreservedly condemn the brutal murder of Hadi Saleh, the international secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, at his home in Baghdad on the night of January 4. He was tied and blindfolded and tortured before being forced to kneel and strangled by electric cord. Hadi was a brave patriot who stood up for workers’ rights under Saddam Hussein and was a key activist in the clandestine Workers Democratic Trade Union Movement which was established in 1980 to keep alive an independent labour movement. He was hunted by the regime for his activities and forced into exile where he continued to work as a printer.
We agree with the IFTU that Iraqi working people have lost a brave trade union leader who dedicated three decades of his life to fighting Saddam’s dictatorship. He fought for a democratic, peaceful and federal Iraq which would unite Iraqis regardless of their background, ethnicity or religion. He championed workers’ rights to organise and strike to achieve decent jobs, pay and working conditions. His cowardly murder is part of a pattern of targeted assassinations and terror by Saddam loyalists.
Harry Barnes MP, Ann Clwyd MP, Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, Kevin Curran, General secretary, GMB, Pat Rabbitte TD, Leader, Irish Labour party, Peter Bottomley MP, John Lloyd, Bob Marshall Andrews MP, Baroness May Blood, Northern Ireland, Sunder Katwala, General Secretary Fabian Society (personal capacity), Gary Kent, Director Labour Friends of Iraq, Ian Davidson MP, Meg Munn MP, Mike Gapes MP, Rudi Vis MP, Johann Hari, writer, Rob Marris MP, Ernie Ross MP, John Grogan MP, John Austin MP, Tony Lloyd MP, John Cryer MP, Wayne David MP, John Mann MP, Dr Lynne Jones MP, Richard Burden MP, Martin Salter MP, Alan Johnson, South Lakeland, Stop the War.