A state-run Iraqi newspaper has published excerpts from the confession of a senior security official from Saddam Hussein's regime, who detailed the use of starvation as a weapon against Kurdish prisoners. The revelation has prompted a prominent Kurdish lawyer to accuse the current federal government in Baghdad of employing the same tactic today by withholding public sector salaries from the Kurdistan Region.

In its recent edition, Al-Sabah, the official newspaper of the Iraqi federal government, quoted Ajjaj Ahmed Hardan al-Obeidi, known as the “Ajjaj of Nugrat Salman,” from his court confession. Al-Obeidi, a graduate of the Iraqi National Security College who rose to become the general supervisor of the notorious Nugrat Salman prison, stated: “We used starvation as a weapon against the prisoners. The lethality of this weapon is no less than that of military bombardment. In just 10 months, two-thirds of the prisoners died of starvation.”

The desert prison, a fortress in southern Iraq's Muthanna province, was a symbol of oppression during the Ba'athist era, holding thousands of Kurdish and Shia detainees. Many perished due to torture, execution, and systematic starvation, particularly during the Anfal campaigns of the late 1980s which targeted Kurds.

The publication of this historical confession has ignited strong reactions in the present day. Lawyer Bakhtawar Sapani told BasNews that the tactic described by Ajjaj remains a tool of policy.

“The weapon that Ajjaj talks about... is still being used against the Kurds by Baghdad to this day,” Sapani asserted. “Since 2014, when Baghdad has cut salaries, is this not the same policy? The only difference is that they used that weapon at the time against a few thousand people inside the oppressive fortress of Nugrat Salman prison, whereas now they are using it against several million people in the Kurdistan Region.”

Sapani argued that the federal government's actions reveal a continuity of mentality. “The Baghdad authorities have proven that they have the same mentality as Ajjaj and the Ba’ath towards the Kurds, and they will not hesitate to do anything in their power against the Kurds,” he added.

The relationship between Erbil and Baghdad has been persistently strained by disputes over oil revenues and budget allocations. For nearly a decade, the federal government has periodically suspended salary payments to civil servants in the Kurdistan Region, citing the regional government’s independent oil exports and disagreements over revenue-sharing. Kurdish authorities condemn these cuts as a form of collective punishment that exacerbates economic crisis and public discontent.