The 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge (Arabic: تطهير حزب البعث) or Comrades Massacre (Arabic: مجزرة الرفاق) was a public purge of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party orchestrated on 22 July 1979 by then-president Saddam Hussein six days after his arrival to the presidency of the Iraqi Republic on 16 July 1979. Six days after the resignation of President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Hussein's accession to President of the Iraqi Republic, Regional Secretary of the party, and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council on July 16,1979, he organized a Ba'ath conference on July 22 in Al-Khuld Hall in Baghdad to carry out a campaign of arrests and executions that included Baathist comrades to consolidate Saddam's hegemony and increase his influence. The list included most of the comrades who opposed Saddam Hussein's rise to power after Al-Bakr, and among these was the former president's secretary, Muhyi Abdul Hussein. Names of people were announced and they were taken outside the hall to be executed. Ba'athist propaganda at the time showed that they were convicted of conspiracy and high treason to the party. Background 1979 Iraqi coup d'état On 16 July 1979, Saddam acted to secure his grip on power. Saddam staged a palace coup by forcing the ailing al-Bakr to resign "for health reasons." The ailing al-Bakr resigned under the threat of force, and formally transferred the presidency and chairmanship of the RCC to the "cherished comrade Saddam Hussein". Abdul-Hussein objected to the transfer of power. Saddam justified this purge based on a perceived conspiracy organized by the left military wing of the Baath-Party interested in unifying Iraq with Syria at the expense of Iraq. Event Saddam hurriedly convened an assembly of party leaders on July 22. During the assembly, which he ordered to be videotaped, he claimed to have uncovered a fifth column within the party. Abdul-Hussein, broken after days of physical torture and under the threat of his family's execution, confessed to taking a leading role in a Syrian-backed plot against the Iraqi government and gave the names of 68 alleged co-conspirators. These were removed from the room one by one as their names were called and taken into custody. After the list was read, Saddam congratulated those still seated in the room for their past and future loyalty. Those arrested at the meeting were subsequently tried together and found guilty of treason. Twenty-two men, including five members of the Revolutionary Command Council,