On Friday, the Iraqi Judicial Council announced the death of Judge Muhammad Uraibi, who presided over the trial sessions of the late President Saddam Hussein and the pillars of his regime between 2004 and 2006.
The Supreme Judicial Council said - in a statement - that Uribi "died at the age of 52 from being infected with the Coronavirus."
He added that Uribi "was one of the most prominent judges who had all the positive qualities of the ideal judge, most notably his courage to confront the trial of the symbols of the former dictatorial regime, so he would remain immortal in the hearts of Iraqis in general and judges in particular."
For his part, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi offered his condolences to the families of the deceased, saying - in a statement - that he "devoted his life for the sake of his homeland, for the sake of law, and for the realization of justice, serving justice and fairness to the Iraqi people from their torturers."
Late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (Getty Images)
Oreibi was born in 1969 in the capital, Baghdad, and was appointed as an investigative judge at the Iraqi High Criminal Court in the trial of the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his regime, on August 1, 2004.
Oreibi presided over the second body of the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Court on September 20, 2006, which examined the cases of "the Anfal, the suppression of the popular uprising, the Friday prayers, the bombing of Halabja, and the liquidation of religious parties."
On November 5, 2006, the court issued its decision to hang Saddam Hussein and a number of his assistants, and the verdict was confirmed on December 26 of the same year, and it was executed on the 30th of the same month, on a day that coincided with the blessed Eid al-Adha .
The decision to implement the ruling on the morning of Eid al-Adha sparked a controversy that is still going on in Iraq and the Arab world, as many saw it as a direct insult to the feelings of Muslims on a religious anniversary.