Iraq executes a former senior officer under Saddam for the 1980 killing of a Shiite cleric

Iraq says a high-level officer during Saddam Hussein's rule has been hanged for his involvement in the 1980 killing of a prominent Shiite cleric. The National Security Service said on Monday that Saadoun Sabri al-Qaisi, who was arrested last year, was convicted of “grave crimes against humanity,” including the killing of prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr and others. Al-Sadr was a leading critic of Saddam's secular Baathist government whose dissent intensified after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The cleric's execution in 1980 became a symbol of oppression under Saddam, who was Sunni.