Hadi Saleh

(1949 - January 4, 2005) was an Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i trade unionist and was International Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions

Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions

The Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions is the largest union federation in Iraq and the only officially recognized trade union body. It was formed in the aftermath of the Iraq War by several groups, most prominently the Iraqi Communist Party, which wished to disassociate itself from the National...

.

Saleh had been involved in Iraqi trade unions for much of his adult life, and was sentenced to death in 1969 because of his involvement in independent unions after the 1968 Ba'ath coup. He served five years in jail before the sentence was commuted, and he fled to Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, where he lived as a refugee until after the 2003 invasion of Iraq

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

.

While in Sweden, Saleh helped form the Workers' Democratic Trade Union Movement, an underground

Underground resistance

Underground resistance may refer to*Underground Resistance , a musical collective from Detroit, Michigan*Underground resistance during World War II, the inhabitants of various locales resisting the rule of the Nazis, the Empire of Japan, and Mussolini...

 organization in Iraq.

Following his return to Iraq, he helped found the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions

Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions

The Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions is the largest union federation in Iraq and the only officially recognized trade union body. It was formed in the aftermath of the Iraq War by several groups, most prominently the Iraqi Communist Party, which wished to disassociate itself from the National...

 in May 2003, and was elected onto its executive committee.

On January 4, 2005, his Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

 home was broken into, and he was tortured and killed by Iraqi insurgents

Iraqi insurgency

The Iraqi Resistance is composed of a diverse mix of militias, foreign fighters, all-Iraqi units or mixtures opposing the United States-led multinational force in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government...

. It has been suggested that the killing bore the hallmarks of an action by the former Iraqi security services, and that it was intended to undermine the growth of the Iraqi trade union movement.

External links

• A leading Iraqi trade unionist, 'The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  ', 20 January 2005
• He encouraged trade unions in his country, 'The Times
  The Times
  The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
  
  ', 8 February 2005
• IFTU archive of reports on Hadi Saleh's death