Kazem Jabburi smashed the base of Saddam Hussein's statue in Firdos square in Baghdad in 2003. The 72-year-old says he regrets that gesture and is nostalgic for the times of Saddam.
He was accused in 2005 of collecting stolen motorcycles, which he says were made up. "Saddam is no longer here, but a thousand Saddam Husseins have arrived... today the parties in power are corrupt and kill without a reason," says the former Iraqi heavyweight champion. "If I could go back, I wouldn't damage the statue of Saddam, on the contrary I would put it back up in the center of the square," he says. "I come from a family of Marxists. For this reason, Saddam had many of my family members imprisoned and killed, including my uncle and my brother. Some were executed, others were sentenced to life imprisonment" for crimes of opinion, says the Iraqi bodybuilder. "In Saddam's time there was security. Now the country is no more safe," he adds.