Police in Iraq have arrested a man selling watches in central Baghdad with images of the country’s former dictator Saddam Hussein on their faces.
Since the fall of Hussein, promotion of the former leader, the regime or the Ba’ath party is prohibited.
Baghdad police department said in a statement that they acted after they had received a tip from a member of the public that someone was selling wristwatches with pictures of Saddam Hussein on them.
The statement did not give further details about the arrest. Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging on Dec, 30 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity.
Iraq’s judiciary recently said no decision or law had been implemented to punish Saddam Hussein’s supporters and pointed out that any step in this regard should be first initiated by the Iraqi Parliament, despite the country’s constitution prohibiting the existence of the former Ba’ath party.
This statement came after a popular poet appeared in the southern province of Dhi Qar, delivering a poem that many saw as a tribute to Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq for decades, from 1979 until his fall in 2003.