Barbarism in Iraq

Any news correspondent sent to a world trouble spot knows that the work is risky. And from Central America to Lebanon, many reporters and photographers have paid the ultimate price trying to gather the news. But rarely, if ever, has a government methodically executed a foreign correspondent for doing his job. That’s why it’s appalling that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ignored international pleas for clemency and ordered Farzad Bazoft, a reporter for the London Observer, to be hanged Thursday on dubious charges of spying for Britain and Israel.

The facts of the case were never in dispute. Bazoft, a native of Iran with a British passport, had been in Iraq many times as an accredited correspondent. Late last year he was one of several reporters who tried to get to the site of a massive explosion at a military base south of Baghdad. Other journalists were turned back, but Bazoft got through by posing as a doctor accompanying a British nurse. While not approved of by most journalists, such ploys are not unheard of. And the fact that it was done for strictly journalistic purposes was evident in Bazoft’s behavior afterward--he filed his story and talked openly in Baghdad of his “scoop.”

After Bazoft’s arrest, Saddam Hussein promised the British government he would get a “full and fair” trial. He got anything but. He faced a revolutionary court that heard no witnesses or evidence on his behalf. His newspaper was not allowed to send a lawyer to defend him. And there was no appeals process afterward. Bazoft was hanged a mere five days after being sentenced.

Britain recalled its ambassador from Baghdad in protest of the execution, but may hold off on stronger action to protect British citizens still in Iraq, including the nurse who helped Bazoft in his journalistic ploy. She remains in prison. That’s why the rest of the world must demonstrate its anger and disgust at this odious execution as firmly and loudly as possible. When reporters do their job, they can be troublesome. But their work is vital in any truly democratic and civilized society. By not commuting Bazoft’s sentence, Saddam Hussein--a leader whose most recent noteworthy achievement was “victory” in the long and bloody Iran-Iraq war--raised new doubts about whether he and his government are as civilized as they claim.