February 11

February 11. 2003: a report by Iraqi Communist Party newspaper Tariq al-Sha'b said that the higher authorities in the Iraqi regime had issued a series of new decrees, including new offences that carry the death penalty.
These instructions were issued by the military bureau of the ruling Ba'th party and signed by the Iraqi leader's son Qusay Saddam Husayn. The new capital offences concern the Air Defence Force personnel and prescribe the death penalty for members of the Air Defence Force units, who: leave their unit when it is under bombardment; cause damage to missile-launching bases; cause damage of ground-air missiles; upon whom pamphlets, dropped by US planes on military units, are found; cause damage to power sources, which provide electricity to radar stations and missile-launching bases; reveal secrets and information on casualties to people outside their unit; spread rumours within their unit.
The instructions regarding the new offences which carry the death penalty stipulate the establishment of special committees at the Air Defence Force units, which are in deployment, to define the charges against an accused person with a view to pronouncing the heaviest sentence, the report said.