International reporting
Why Jordanians Still Love Saddam Hussein
Audio 02:32
Old Iraqi dinars bearing the likeness of Saddam Hussein, for sale in a market in Amman, Jordan.
© Getty Images/Joel Carillet
By: RFI Follow
3 mins
Despite the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during his reign, the figure of Saddam Hussein remains highly appreciated in Jordan.
The dictator's face appears on cars, playing cards, currency and even on social media.
A particular passion for Jordanians, a legacy of the good relations that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had with the Hashemite Kingdom.
Advertising
In this shop in downtown Amman, it is possible to buy old Iraqi dinars bearing the portrait of Saddam Hussein.
Eynad is the owner and, according to him, these are the souvenirs that sell the best.
"
I sell 5,000 a month, even if it's not worth anything, because here we love Saddam, and everyone remembers him
," says Eynad.
This 35-year-old Jordanian grew up in the 1990s, at the height of relations between Iraq and Jordan.
At the time, the population of the Kingdom benefited from scholarships and benefited from favorable oil prices thanks to subsidies from the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Eynad remembers the first public projects initiated thanks to Iraqi aid.
Saddam Hussein was the first to open roads between our countries.
For example, the road to Aqaba, which Jordanians still enjoy long after his death.
When he was executed, the whole country was shocked.
I was in class and we cried.
I still have pictures of him at home and every Eid holiday we sacrifice a sheep for him.
Positions appreciated by the Jordanians
The dictator's positions against Israel are also appreciated by Jordanians, more than 50% of whom are of Palestinian origin.
This is the case of Mohammed, who looks attentively at the key rings bearing the image of Saddam Hussein.
“
We love this man.
He was the first to stop Israel.
He sent 49 rockets at them and asked: who will send the fiftieth?
Which country will send the fiftieth?
He at least did something, something important that no one had done or thought of doing before
,” he thinks.
The figure of the dictator has also flooded social networks.
The youngest like Ahmed, 25, share videos of his trial, old interviews or even glowing photomontages.
"
There are loads of videos that I upload on WhatsApp and on the internet honoring Saddam
," Ahmed said.
“
I have a TikTok account with half a million followers and a Snapchat account with 50,000 followers where I post content.
He was a man, a real man, even a knight
,” he adds.
Jordan, "
one of the few countries to have remained with Saddam
"
Ahmed disputes the crimes attributed to the Iraqi dictator and invokes self-defense.
A common thesis in Jordan and long fueled by the government, according to Amer Al Sabaileh, a political science researcher at the University of Jordan.
"
Jordan is one of the rare countries to have remained with Saddam
", explains Amer Al Sbaileh.
“
There was a very strong promotion of the dictator and the sources of information were very limited.
Even the Halabja massacre was not addressed.
The Jordanians didn't see how scary and dangerous it all was
.
»
Halabja, named after one of the greatest massacres of the 20th century, orchestrated by Saddam Hussein in 1988. 5,000 Kurds were killed with chemical weapons.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Jordan
Iraq