Antique way of justice returns to Iraq

Crime and vigilantism on the increase in = the era=20 following Saddam

Sunday, May 30, 2004

BY BORZOU DARAGAHI

For the Star-Ledger

BAGHDAD -- As he watched his son's kidnapper walk free and out = of his=20 life, Ali Sayadan al Obeidi said he had found inner peace after = nearly two=20 months of torment.

The retired educator's son Farouk was abducted by a criminal = gang in=20 April and freed only after Obeidi kidnapped one of the kidnappers. = "I=20 always knew that almighty God would bring my son back," Obeidi = said. "I=20 know only God hands down justice."

But Obeidi's is not a tale of justice. It's a story of fear = that drove=20 an educated middle-class Iraqi to take the law into his own hands, = spending night after night staking out his front-door in hopes of=20 confronting the men who took his 4-year-old after the police told = him=20 there was nothing they could do.

Rage impelled him to hold the suspected kidnapper hostage for = six=20 weeks, demanding that the career criminal's tribe cough up money. =

But late last month, Obeidi, 55, convened a summit between his = and his=20 kidnappers' tribes to resolve the matter peaceably.

Obeidi's is story of contemporary Iraq, where a surge in = violence and=20 crime has fueled madness in a once staid society, where the = absence of law=20 and order has resulted in the return of ancient forms of justice. =

"In some sense I don't even blame the criminals," he said last = week,=20 sipping tea in a tent raised to host the meeting between tribal = elders. "I=20 blame the insecurity in the country now."

According to a study by the Associated Press, crime has = exploded in=20 Iraq since the U.S. toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in April = 2003,=20 with violent deaths in Baghdad rising from an average of 14 per = month in=20 2002 to 357 per month during the first 12 months of occupation. =

Baghdad's homicide rate is nearly twice that of Bogot=E1, = Colombia, and=20 10 times that of New York, according to statistics from morgues = provided=20 to the AP.

Kidnappings for ransom also appear to be on the rise, although = police=20 could provide no hard figures. The 12-year-old son of Shawki = Yussef Nahab,=20 a prominent Baghdad surgeon, was abducted in late April. The = kidnappers at=20 first demanded $150,000, though they later settled for less.

"I wish that nobody would be in my shoes during the five days = my son=20 was missing, not even my enemies," said Nahab. "He's my youngest = child.=20 They knew exactly where to hit me."

Obeidi's ordeal began April 9 with a knock on his front door. = His=20 4-year-old son opened the door and was immediately snatched up and = taken=20 away.

Obeidi, his wife Balsam Abdul Hakim and their seven other = children=20 worried and wept. "It was a very desperate situation," he said. "I = could=20 only sleep when I was so exhausted that I couldn't stay awake." =

The newly formed Iraqi police told them there was little they = could do,=20 that kidnappings for ransom -- which had died down a little -- had = become=20 commonplace in the breakdown of order during the first few weeks = of April.=20 They urged the family to negotiate with the kidnappers and pay = whatever=20 they wanted.

The family waited three days before a note was dropped at their = front=20 door with a satellite telephone number. When Obeidi called, the = kidnappers=20 demanded $30,000. Obeidi told them he didn't have that much money, = that=20 they would have to make another offer.

He hung up the phone, anticipating that the kidnappers would = drop off=20 another note. He pulled his Kalashnikov assault rifle out of = storage and=20 held a vigil at his front door. "Every day I put my rifle in my = lap with a=20 bullet in the chamber and waited for them," he said. "One night, = they=20 showed up."

It was early morning. Three men were in the car. As soon as = they=20 dropped off the note, Obeidi ran after them and opened fire. The = car sped=20 away, but got a flat tire as it tried to navigate through the side = street.=20 Neighbors streamed out of their homes. Two of the kidnappers = escaped, but=20 Obeidi caught a third, the ringleader.

Obeidi pointed his rifle at the kidnapper and demanded to know = his=20 son's whereabouts. That very morning he and his relatives found = Farouk and=20 brought him home.

Obeidi said he resisted the temptation to physically abuse his = son's=20 alleged kidnapper, Salah al-Hayali, who had spent eight of his 34 = years in=20 prison. "He was a professional criminal, a graduate of Saddam's = prisons,"=20 said Obeidi.

He also refused to hand al-Hayali over to police. "If he went = back to=20 prison, the Americans would let him loose in two weeks, and he and = his=20 tribe will be my enemies on the streets," he said.

Instead, he demanded $120,000 cash from Hayali's tribe -- based = near=20 the central Iraqi city of Balad -- in exchange for his freedom. = "The=20 tribal formula is that I would take a sum of money equal to the = last sum=20 of money he wanted from me, times four," he said.

The issue had become honor, restoring the dignity Hayali had = stolen=20 from his victim. Nahab, the surgeon, said the kidnappings are only = half=20 about money. "The other half is out of hatred by the lower class = people to=20 those who are successful and educated," he said.

Obeidi, a courtly member of one of Iraq's largest tribes, = stubbornly=20 held onto Hayali for six weeks, feeding him regularly while he was = locked=20 up in the homes of his relatives.

Finally elders of both clans intervened, convening a tribal = summit on a=20 side street in a Baghdad neighborhood just down the road from = Obeidi's=20 home. Obeidi and the other men donned their tribal costumes. Tea = and=20 sweets were served. Fevered conversation and negotiation ensued. =

Finally, Obeidi agreed to give up Hayali in exchange for an = apology=20 from the tribe. "In any case," he said, "it's a shameful for us to = take=20 any money that came about as a result of criminal activity."

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