Farzad Bazoft

[2] After finishing his education he began a career as a freelance journalist, contributing articles about the Middle East and, in particular, the Iran–Iraq War to news outlets including The Observer and the BBC.

[1][3] Before Bazoft set off, he learned about a mysterious explosion that had occurred on 19 September 1989 at the al-Iskandaria military complex, 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Baghdad.

"[3] Other Western reporters were also interested in the story,[4] but a camera crew from Independent Television News was stopped by Iraqi authorities before they could reach the plant.

[citation needed] After six weeks[4] in custody at the Abu Ghraib prison, and, after beatings,[5] Bazoft was put in front of TV cameras on 1 November and made to confess to being an Israeli agent.

[6] Following a one-day trial behind closed doors, lacking conclusive evidence of his guilt, Bazoft was convicted and sentenced to death on 10 March 1990.

Documents seized during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 confirm that Saddam Hussein personally stressed the need for Bazoft's execution to take place before Ramadan (which began that year on 16 March), to quash attempts for clemency by the British government.

[10] Immediately after the execution, Britain recalled its ambassador to Iraq[11] and cancelled all ministerial visits, though the Conservative Party was not unanimous on the response, with Conservative MPs Rupert Allason and Anthony Beaumont-Dark supporting the Iraqi government response, and Phil Dicks even publicly stating on the day before the execution that Bazoft "deserved to be hanged".

[10] The release of papers from 1990 at the beginning of 2017 revealed that the Thatcher government decided to take no action against Iraq out of an anxiety that doing so might risk British exports.