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President Zelenskiy: The Figurehead of Ukraine’s Defiance

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits a place of a fight with Russian troops during Russia's invasion to Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine May 29, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits a place of a fight with Russian troops during Russia's invasion to Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine May 29, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
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President Zelenskiy: The Figurehead of Ukraine’s Defiance

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits a place of a fight with Russian troops during Russia's invasion to Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine May 29, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits a place of a fight with Russian troops during Russia's invasion to Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine May 29, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has inspired Ukrainians and won global respect and praise for his courage and defiance in resisting Russia's devastating invasion of his country.

Refusing to leave Ukraine's capital of Kyiv at the outbreak of the war, even as Russian bombs rained down, the former comedian rallied his compatriots in broadcasts from the capital.

Last Sunday, he went on his first trip east since the war started, visiting Ukrainian troops near the frontline in Kharkiv region.

He has also drawn standing ovations in foreign parliaments whose urgent help he has sought via videolink.

Asked about his daily regime during the war, which will enter its 100th day on Friday, he told Reuters and CNN in a joint interview in March: "I work and I sleep."

Asked how long Ukraine could hold out, Zelenskiy said: "We do not hold out, we fight, and our nation will fight to the end. This is our home, we are protecting our land, our homes. For the sake of our children's future."

Wearing his trademark olive green T-shirt, often tired and unshaven but always impassioned, Zelenskiy has urged Western lawmakers to impose an embargo on Russian oil and gas and to step up arms supplies to his embattled forces on the frontline.

The West has rebuffed his appeal on no-fly zones, fearing this could lead to direct conflict with Russia and even trigger World War Three, but provided military aid - including self-propelled US howitzers and advanced rockets - and economic support while imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russia.

"History is at a turning point ... This is really the moment when it is decided whether brute force will rule the world," the 44-year-old father of two told global business leaders at Davos last month, casting the war as part of a global struggle between democracy and authoritarianism.

He has accused Russia of waging a genocidal war: "This is a deliberate and criminal attempt to kill as many Ukrainians as possible, to destroy as many houses, social facilities and enterprises as possible." Russia denies targeting civilians.

Zelenskiy has also castigated what he sees as Europe's tardiness to sanction Russian energy imports, which help bankroll Moscow's military campaign, and those Western politicians who urged him to make territorial concessions to end the war.

Making his first trip out of Kyiv on May 29 since the start of the war, he told soldiers in the northeast Kharkiv region: "You risk your lives for us all and for our country."

When Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in a what it calls "special operation" to disarm and "denazify" the country, Zelenskiy, who is Jewish, responded by invoking Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

"Russia treacherously attacked our state this morning, as Nazi Germany did during World War Two," he said in a national address. "Russia has embarked on a path of evil, but Ukraine is defending itself and won't give up its freedom, no matter what Moscow thinks."

The war, while enhancing Zelenskiy's reputation at home and abroad, has been disastrous for Ukraine, killing tens of thousands of people, reducing cities to rubble and prompting more than 6 million people to flee abroad, according to the United Nations.

Servant of the people
Zelenskiy is an unlikely wartime leader. He shot to fame in a popular television series, "Servant of the People", in which he played an honest school teacher who is elected president and outwits crooked lawmakers and shadowy businessmen.

Winning the presidency by a landslide in April 2019, he pledged to tackle the corruption that has blighted Ukraine's transition from communism to democracy. But Russia has always posed the biggest challenge to his aspirations to build a modern, democratic and stable European country.

His Servant of the People party won a big majority in a July 2019 parliamentary election and Zelenskiy initially sought a negotiated peace to the war against Russia-backed separatists in Donbas, ongoing since 2014.

But that did not last long. Russia continued to support the separatists and tensions continued to grow.

Risking Moscow's ire, Zelenskiy has courted Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden at talks in the White House on Sept. 1, 2021. He has infuriated Putin with his increasingly insistent calls for NATO and the EU to admit Ukraine.

"Everyone should understand ... that we are at war, that we are defending democracy in Europe and defending our country ...," Zelenskiy said in a June 2021 interview.

"Every day we prove that we are ready to be in the (NATO) alliance more than most of the countries of the European Union."

Zelenskiy rode a wave of public discontent with Ukraine's corrupt political elite to victory over the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, a wealthy businessman, in 2019.

Asked by Reuters ahead of that election how he differed from other presidential hopefuls, Zelenskiy pointed to his face, saying: "This is a new face. I have never been in politics.

"I have not deceived people. They identify with me because I am open, I get hurt, I get angry, I get upset ... If I'm inexperienced in something, I'm inexperienced. If I don't know something, I honestly admit it."

Zelenskiy was drawn unwittingly into US politics after a phone call in which then-President Donald Trump tried to get him to investigate his Democratic rival Biden over business deals in Ukraine.

The Democrat-led US House of Representatives impeached Trump after an inquiry concluded he had withheld military aid from Ukraine in order to influence Kyiv. Trump denied wrongdoing and the Republican-controlled US Senate later acquitted him.

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Jamal Mustafa Recalls to Asharq Al-Awsat Years with Saddam, his Imprisonment and Execution

Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Charbel during the interview.
Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Charbel during the interview.
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Jamal Mustafa Recalls to Asharq Al-Awsat Years with Saddam, his Imprisonment and Execution

Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Charbel during the interview.
Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat Editor-in-Chief Ghassan Charbel during the interview.

Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan, late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law and second secretary, broke his silence and sat down with Asharq Al-Awsat to recall his time in prison and his years with the late president.

It’s not easy being Saddam’s son-in-law, son of his tribe and to rally the tribes to defend Baghdad only to discover that it has been occupied by the Americans, who have printed your image on playing cards and named you Iraq’s ninth most-wanted man. It’s not easy to seek safety in Syria, only to be turned away and then find yourself in prison.

It’s not easy to live in solitary confinement, and to be accused, while in prison, of leading a resistance and of sending booby-trapped cars. It’s not easy to learn while in prison that Saddam was detained by the American forces. It’s not easy to be summoned to trial in the Dujail case only to come face-to-face with Saddam himself.

It’s not easy to learn that “Mr. President” was executed at dawn on Eid al-Adha and that his corpse was strewn in front of then Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's house as he was celebrating his daughter’s wedding.

It’s not easy to learn from a judge in 2011 that there was no reason for you to remain on trial and that he was capable of releasing you in exchange for a hefty sum of dollars. Mustafa did not have that sort of money, so he was forced to remain in prison for nearly a decade before being released in 2021 due to a lack of evidence.

Weeks ago, I came across an old photo of Saddam with his whole family. Pictured were Saddam, his wife Sajidah, and his sons Uday and Qusay, daughter Raghad and her husband Hussein Kamel al-Majid, daughter Rana and her husband Saddam Kamel al-Majid, and daughter Hala and husband Mustafa. Five of the six men in the photo have been killed and only Mustafa remains.

Saddam Hussein surrounded by his family. (AFP)

He was born in Tikrit on October 1, 1964. He joined the president’s guard and was encouraged to continue his studies, earning a degree in political science. He played a major role in promoting sports and enjoyed strong ties with athletes. He was tasked with the tribe file and consequently forged extensive tis with them. He was trusted by Saddam and joined government meetings.

Mustafa was arrested on April 21, 2003, and released from al-Kadhimiya prison on June 17, 2021. He headed to Baghdad and later Erbil where he met with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani. He then left Iraq for the Qatari capital Doha where he resides with Saddam’s widow Sajidah.

I approached Mustafa for an interview after he had shied away from the media, and he agreed to break his silence. As is tradition with tribes, he refused that I leave without a late lunch. The main meal was Habeet, the traditional Iraqi dish and Saddam’s favorite.

After leaving our meeting, I recalled what Abdul Raouf Rashid, the judge who issued the death sentence against Saddam in the Dujail case. He told me: “We acted according to the law and justice. Unfortunately, some officials turned the case into one of vengeance and gloating when they chose to execute him on Eid al-Adha. They desecrated Saddam’s corpse. Their actions are practically a gift to Saddam’s supporters who will keep his memory alive for a long time.”

I asked Mustafa about his time behind bars. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that he was on good terms with head of the Revolutionary Court Awad al-Bandar, who issued the death sentence. “He used to relay some of Saddam’s messages to me. (...) He was a good and brave man,” he said.

He recalled how he would receive cigars from Saddam that had his signature, a signal that he had received his messages. “I still have some of those cigars,” added Mustafa.

Saddam Hussein and Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan.

On Saddam’s morale during his time prison, Mustafa recalled: “The Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims know him well. They know that he was a brave and unyielding man. (...) It is no secret that he was aware that he was going to be executed. Everyone in jail was aware of this and we could not shake off the thought.”

Mustafa accused the trial of being corrupt and that any conviction could be made against Saddam to justify laying down the death penalty against him. “The trial was a farce. It was held by the Americans at Iranian orders and carried out by Iraqi agents to appease their Iranian and American masters. It was a tool to take revenge against the former regime,” stressed Mustafa.

Mustafa was with Saddam when he came under a failed assassination attempt in Dujail. “He was visiting Dujail just like any other city or village in Iraq. He met with citizens there who welcomed and celebrated his visit. He spoke to citizens and among them a woman. A sheep was slaughtered in his honor, and when we were about to get into our car, the woman splattered blood on the vehicle. We read this as a bad sign. So, we changed cars.”

“Soon after the convoy came under gunfire from gunmen hiding in nearby orchards. The president left his vehicles and several cars were damaged and people were injured. The president walked among the people to reassure them. After speaking to them, he returned to the car and headed back to the location where he had earlier delivered a speech. He delivered another speech before departing and we returned to Baghdad,” recalled Mustafa.

Saddam ordered the arrest of the suspects in the assassination attempt. “An hour after the attack Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani implied during a visit to Syria that they were behind the assassination. He said so from Damascus. This is damning evidence that Iran was behind the attack. They wanted to assassinate him. They knew that if they killed Mr. President that Iraq would fall in their hands,” he added. The suspects were eventually tried and executed.

Mustafa recalled the first day he was summoned to trial in the case. He entered the courtroom and saw Saddam there. “I remember exactly what I told him: ‘Peace be upon you, my father, father-in-law and dear leader,’” he revealed.

At the trial, Mustafa accused Iran of orchestrating several attacks in Baghdad, but the judge dismissed them, saying he was summoned to defend Saddam. Mustafa told the judge: “Mr. President is seen as a criminal by several of Iraq and the Ummah’s enemies, but he is a leader and brave son of Iraq and the Ummah.”

“You ask if I was punished for being Saddam’s son-in-law. The answer is yes. I remained in prison for 18 and a half years. Driven by spite, they only sought revenge. I paid a price and they tried to take revenge against me by keeping me in jail for so long. They came up with all sorts of charges against me, such as leading a resistance from behind bars,” continued Mustafa.

“They believed that I could have used my extensive ties to stage a coup once I was released from prison. So, they believed it was best that I remained and died there.” Mustafa was kept in solitary confinement for years. He recalled some sympathetic guards who treated him with respect because they were aware of his work in the sports sector and his vast network of relations.

Returning to Saddam, Mustafa said he met him twice while they were in prison. He recalled how painful it was to see him as he was his idol and he was surrounded by enemies on all sides. “He was a lion among them. He was firm in his principles and strove and sacrificed to uphold them.”

Dr. Jamal Mustafa al-Sultan's image on the playing cards of most-wanted Iraqis regime figures released by the US military.

Their first meeting took place in the jail and Mustafa said Saddam was in high spirits. They met the second time at court when Saddam declared that he had been tortured along with other detained leaders.

Mustafa learned of Saddam’s death when he noticed that the guards had taken away the radio the Americans had allowed them to keep so they could listen to the news. “We woke up one morning and it was gone. I also noticed a translator among our usual guard. This is a sign that something had happened,” he explained.

“Eventually we learned that Saddam was executed and martyred,” said Mustafa. “I said the following: ‘from now on Saddam will be a symbol of courage, heroism and sacrifice for all Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims. He will remain an eternal Arab leader.’ The translator translated my words to the guards, who remained silent. We then performed the prayer for the dead. Among us was Tariq Aziz, a Christian, but he also performed the prayer.”

“We were all in shock. His martyrdom was a shock to all honorable patriotic Iraqis, as well as Arabs and Muslims. He was also a great loss because he stood against the enemies. Everyone sensed his loss,” Mustafa added.

Saddam was executed on Eid al-Adha, which Mustafa said was deliberate to insult and humiliate the Arabs and Muslims.

“At the time, we heard claims that his corpse was strewn in front of Nouri al-Maliki's house. Maliki is allied to Iran. He was celebrating his daughter's wedding. The body was taken there to seal the revenge. They have never served or offered Iraq anything but revenge and destruction.”

The body was taken to Tikrit and later Al-Awja, Saddam’s birthplace, in the Salahuddin province. He was buried there and mourners from all over the world came to pay their respects. The grave remains a secret to only the most trusted people.