RIYADH/JEDDAH, 21 May 2005 — Citizens and other Arab expatriates across Saudi Arabia expressed their shock over the naked photos of Saddam Hussein splashed both in The Sun, London, and the New York Post and said they were in bad taste and violated the provisions of the Geneva Convention.
“The picture showing Saddam in his underpants is absolutely disgusting. Agreed, he misused his power, for which he is now paying the price in the jail. That does not mean someone should encroach on his privacy and take photos without his knowledge. It goes against the norms of civilized behavior and ethical conduct,” Saudi broadcaster Mohammed Saqqa said.
Saudi political analyst Abdulaziz Al-Hendi said the fact that the newspaper obtained the photographs from US military sources shows that some US military officers were violating the international conventions on dealing with the prisoners of war. “There seems to be a pattern in dealing either with the POWs or detainees, such as in the case of Abu Ghraib, where the detainees were humiliated and tortured. Such things could not have happened without the knowledge of higher officials in the US military chain of command.”
“It’s outrageous. There’s no need to publish such pictures, whatever his crimes,” said Muhammad Hussein Bari, an Iraqi expat at a Sitteen Street restaurant.
Egyptian expatriate Muhammad Taha called it a “fitting tribute to the man who harassed, maltreated and tortured his own people.” “It’s good the way the former ‘tyrant’ has been photographed and presented so that the people of Iraq see him like that to destroy the myth,” said a Lebanese media executive, who wanted to remain anonymous.
“Maybe, that will kill a bit of the passion in the fanatics who still follow him,” he said, adding that this should also spell doom for Saddam’s Baath Party.”
“The Sun picture represents an extreme course of human degradation. Whatever might have been Saddam’s record, he should not be portrayed in this manner. It seems what we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg and worse things may be going on behind the scenes, as we saw in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay,” a journalist remarked.
