Twitter claims Saddam Hussein's judge has died—again

The infamous judge of Saddam Hussein has been reported dead for the third time this year, leading to yet another social media frenzy of posts about the controversial figure. As has been the case before, rumors of Judge Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman’s death are unconfirmed, and judging by the simiar scenarios we've seen before (re: third time this year), they just might end up being proven false—again. 

Add to the mix the reports of his capture and execution by Daesh and you find that confirming his current status is nearly impossible.

Execution rumors first popped up in June 2014 after a number of Western media outlets, including the Daily Mail, published reports that Daesh had killed him in revenge for his sentencing of Saddam Hussein to death.

RT @OtmanAlGhomari: The Judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death Executed by #ISIS http://t.co/vRuUZhY0qp pic.twitter.com/Ed9bMOTSOP"

— Jay (@Prep_Jay) June 25, 2014

 

The whole story was reportedly denied by a spokesperson for the Kurdish Regional Government, who said he was alive and well.

In early August of this year, Rahman was alleged to have died, again, This tweet reads:

“The death of Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman, who sentenced the martyr Saddam Hussein to death.”

وفاة القاضي رؤوف عبدالرحمن الذي حكم بالاعدام على الشهيد الرئيس صدام حسين - http://t.co/3hY9NkCmd6 pic.twitter.com/S9XJtiIIHs

— abdullah (@abdullah_pm) August 3, 2015

 

These reports were never confirmed, but again in mid-September, more people began posting about his alleged death, like this tweet, which says: “The death of the judge Raouf Abdul Rahman, who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death. And this is life, a journey ends and by god everybody meets.”

وفاة القاضي رؤوف عبدالرحمن الذي حكم على صدام حسين بالإعدام.. وهكذا تمضي الحياة.. رحلة تنتهي.. وعند الله يجتمع الخصوم pic.twitter.com/2wYKUxIU2r

— صن صن الحربي (@qweap106) September 19, 2015

 

Again, this report remained unconfirmed, which brings us to the latest claim making rounds on the Internet. This week, people took to social media reporting he had died of lung cancer in London. Included in many of the posts is a grainy picture of a man looking like Rahman in a hospital bed.

This recent tweet reads: “The Judge Raouf who sentenced Saddam to death died with lungs cancer in one of London’s hospitals”

لقي حتفه القاضي رؤوف الذي حكم على القائد /صدام حسين المجيدي بالأعدام بعد ان اصيب بسرطان الرئة في احد مستشفيات لندن pic.twitter.com/Aeyx1cVBAY

— khaled al najdi (@khalednajdi16) November 22, 2015

Like the others, this has yet to be confirmed. But if past experience has taught us anything, we should at least know to look at it with a little bit of skepticism.