[1] He joined the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region in the 1950s as a student and was one of the first Shia to hold a position of power in the regime.
He has been credited with invigorating an organisation that was failing after ten (1958–1968) years of army control yet he was despised for his sadism and his habit of conducting interrogations personally, usually involving torture.
In July 1973, allegedly motivated by the dominance of Sunnis in Iraq, he led an unsuccessful coup against President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr.
He shot dead Shehab (Gheidan was injured, but feigned death and survived) and then was captured as he attempted to flee to Iran.
[2][3][4] On July 7 he was tried over the coup by the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council under Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri and executed that same month.