ADDENDUM TO WORLDS APART

On 10th March, 1990, Iranian born journalist Farzad Bazoft was convicted by the Iraqi authorities of spying for Israel. He was condemned to death and executed five days later on the Ides of March. He had settled in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980's

Following a one day trial behind closed doors, lacking any conclusive evidence of his guilt, Bazoft was convicted and sentenced to death on 10th March, 1990. A co-defendant, British nurse Daphne Parish, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, but she was released on July 16, 1990, following a pleas for clemency fromZambian president Kenneth Kaunda.

International appeals for clemency for Bazoft had no effect. He was not permitted tp appeal his conviction or sentencing and was executed by hanging at 6:30am on 15th March 1990. His body was placed in a rough wooden crate and dispatched to his family in Britain. Immediately after the execution, the British ambassador was ordered to leave Iraq and all ministerial visits were cancelled. Bazoft's story triggered a widespread outrage of the West and contributed to international isolation of Saddam's regime. Months later, on 2nd August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, sparking off the first Gulf War.

In 2003, The Observer newspaper tracked down Kadem Askar, the colonel in the Iraqi intelligence service who conducted the initial interrogation of Bazoft. He admitted that he knew Bazoft was innocent, but that he was powerless to obstruct Saddam Hussein's orders to have him convicted and executed.

22 May 1958 – 15 March 1990