Iraq Executes Reporter for British Paper

The government announced today that it executed British-based journalist Farzad Bazoft, who was convicted of spying by an Iraqi revolutionary court.

Earlier, President Saddam Hussein rejected British protests over the death sentence, saying that London’s “anger” would not sway Iraq’s decision.

Hussein had turned down British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd’s request to visit Baghdad to discuss commuting the sentence, which was pronounced last week.

Bazoft, 32, a stateless Iranian, reported for Britain’s weekly Observer newspaper. He was arrested Sept. 15, 1989, at the Baghdad airport after what his editors called a working visit at the invitation of the Iraqi government.

Bazoft had been investigating reports of a mysterious explosion the month before at a weapons complex near Baghdad.

The Iraqis described the incident as a relatively minor blast at a fuel depot that killed only 19 people. But another British newspaper, the Independent, said it killed hundreds.

Shortly after his arrest, Bazoft appeared on Iraqi television and confessed to being an Israeli agent. But he proclaimed his innocence in meetings with British consular officials.

British nurse Daphne Parish received a 15-year prison term last week for allegedly helping him spy.

Britain received support from the 11 other European Community states over the case and asked Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat to intervene with Baghdad to have the sentences reduced. King Hussein of Jordan also made a plea to President Hussein.

In his first public reaction to the Bazoft case, Hussein said on Iraqi television, during an address to farmers in the north of the country, that Bazoft was a spy.

He continued: “British anger will not affect the independence of Iraq. . . . They (the British) are still dreaming of the period that they colonized Iraq, but Iraq will remain its own master at home and will not be scared.”