Iraqi government clamps down on visits to Saddam’s grave

Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s grave, located near Tikrit in the town of Awja, often receives visitors. But, after local students made the pilgrimage as part of a school trip, the regime in Baghdad got tough:

In a statement, the government said it had sent instructions to the education ministry and local authorities banning them from organising visits to the tomb of the former president.

The rule applies only to the education district of Salahuddin and not to any other part of Iraq, because, as one official put it, “no one from anywhere else in the country was likely to contemplate organizing a school tour to the grave.”

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