1979 Ba'ath Party Purge
The 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge (Arabic: تطهير حزب البعث)`, also called the Comrades Massacre (Arabic: مجزرة الرفاق), was a public purge of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party orchestrated on 22 July 1979 by then-president Saddam Hussein six days after his arrival to the presidency of the Iraqi Republic on 16 July 1979.
Syrian president Hafiz al-Assad (centre) with Iraqi vice president Saddam Hussein (left), Algerian foreign minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika (right), and Syrian vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam (far right, half-covered) at the 1978 Arab League summit in Baghdad. | |
| Native name | Comrades Massacre |
|---|---|
| Date | 22 July 1979 |
| Location | Ba'athist Iraq |
| Also known as | Khuld Hall Incident, Comrades Massacre |
| Type | Purge |
| Cause |
|
| Organised by | Saddam Hussein |
| Outcome |
|
| Deaths | 21 executed |
| Arrests | 68 |
Six days after the resignation of President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Hussein's accession to President of the Iraqi Republic, Regional Secretary of the party, and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council on July 16, 1979, he organized a Ba'ath conference on July 22 in Al-Khuld Hall in Baghdad to carry out a campaign of arrests and executions that included Baathist comrades, who were accused of taking part in a pro-Syrian plot to overthrow Saddam.
The list included most of the comrades who opposed Saddam Hussein's rise to power after Al-Bakr, and among these was the former president's secretary, Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi. Names of people were announced and they were taken outside the hall to be executed. Ba'athist propaganda at the time showed that they were convicted of conspiracy and high treason to the party. Iraq subsequently cut off relations with its fellow Ba'athist regime in Syria, accusing Hafiz al-Assad of organizing the plot.