Raouf Abdul Rahman, the judge who sentenced former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to death by hanging in 2006, was reportedly killed by ISIS militants in retaliation for the execution of the 69-year-old dictator. The Iraqi government has yet to confirm his death, but officials didn’t deny reports of his capture. ISIS militants claim that they arrested him on June 16 and executed him two days later.

Jordanian MP Khalil Attieh wrote on his Facebook page that Judge Rahman, head of the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal during Hussein’s death, had been arrested by revolutionary Iraqis who then sentenced him to death. Attieh also said that Judge Rahman had made a failed attempt to escape from Baghdad disguised in a dancer’s costume.

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri – Hussein’s former deputy who has emerged as a key figure among the Sunni militants – also wrote on his Facebook page confirming the arrest and execution.

Judge Rahman was born in the Kurdish town of Halabja and took over the trial of Mr. Hussein halfway through in January 2006 after the previous judge Rizgar Amin was criticised for being too lenient in his dealings with Hussein and his co-defendents.

The judge is a father of three who graduated from the Baghdad University’s law school in 1963. He worked as a lawyer before he was appointed as the chief judge of the Kurdistan Appeals Court in 1996. He oversaw Hussein’s trial for crimes against humanity over the killing of 148 people in the town of Dujail following an assassination attemptin 1982, and sentenced him to death by hanging following the guilty verdict.