Saddam’s grave stirs tensions

Of late, visits to the executed dictator’s grave have become more popular and frequent, raising government fears that the shrine could become a gathering point of resistance to the new order.

Saddam’s birthday on 28 April, which during his rule was a national holiday, the fall of his statue in Firdos Square in Baghdad on 9 April 2003, and the date of his execution, 30 December 2006, which occurred on the eve of the Islamic Adha Eid holiday, leading to him becoming known as the ‘Adha martyr, have all become occasions of pilgrimage to his grave. Some local schools in his home province of Salahuddin have even been organizing group trips to the site.