Qasr al-Nihayah

For the former prison in Tehran, Iran, see Museum of the Qasr Prison.

Qasr al-Nihayah, also known as the Palace of the End, was a building in Baghdad, Iraq which housed a prison used for interrogations, sometimes referred to as "torture",^[1]^[2] by the Baath Party under Saddam Hussein. It was bombed and destroyed by the United States in March 2003.^[1] It was described as "perhaps the most feared destination in Iraq until its demolition" by Martin Amis in The Guardian.^[3]

According to author Con Coughlin, "Hundreds if not thousands of people perished at the hands of Kazzar's security forces, many of them tortured to death at the Palace of the End."^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b Lathem, Niles (March 22, 2003). "Big Blitz Has Foe Crumbling; 'Shock and Awe' Bombs Hit Baghdad Thousands Surrender as Gis Push on 2 Marines Are First Battlefield Deaths". The New York Post. Retrieved November 7, 2025. The missiles destroyed his Cabinet offices, the Ba'ath Party headquarters, the Qasr al-Nihayah building – which houses his main torture chambers – and at least five other buildings.
^ Coughlin, Con (2002). Saddam: The Secret Life. London, U.K.: MacMillan. p. 42. ISBN 0-333-78200-3. One of the most notorious torture chambers was located at the aptly named Palace of the End (Qasr al-Nihayah), so called because it was the site where the monarchy had been wiped out in 1958. One of the most notorious practioners of the torturer's art was Nadhim Kazzar, who would later become Saddam's head of national security.
^ Amis, Martin (March 4, 2003). "The Palace of the End". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 November 2025 – via Barcelona Review. It is important to remember that Saddam, despite his liking for medals and camouflage outfits (and for personally mismanaging his armies), was never a military man. He came up through the torture corps in the 1960s, establishing the Baath secret police, Jihaz Haneen (the "instrument of yearning"), and putting himself about in the Qasr al-Nihayah ("the Palace of the End"), perhaps the most feared destination in Iraq until its demolition, after an attempted coup by the chief inquisitor, Nadhim Kazzar, in 1973.
^ Coughlin, Con (2002). Saddam: The Secret Life. London, U.K.: MacMillan. p. 78. ISBN 0-333-78200-3.

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[nypostbigblitz-1] Lathem, Niles (March 22, 2003). "Big Blitz Has Foe Crumbling; 'Shock and Awe' Bombs Hit Baghdad Thousands Surrender as Gis Push on 2 Marines Are First Battlefield Deaths". The New York Post. Retrieved November 7, 2025. The missiles destroyed his Cabinet offices, the Ba'ath Party headquarters, the Qasr al-Nihayah building – which houses his main torture chambers – and at least five other buildings.

[coughlin42-2] Coughlin, Con (2002). Saddam: The Secret Life. London, U.K.: MacMillan. p. 42. ISBN 0-333-78200-3. One of the most notorious torture chambers was located at the aptly named Palace of the End (Qasr al-Nihayah), so called because it was the site where the monarchy had been wiped out in 1958. One of the most notorious practioners of the torturer's art was Nadhim Kazzar, who would later become Saddam's head of national security.

[guardianpalace-3] Amis, Martin (March 4, 2003). "The Palace of the End". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 November 2025 – via Barcelona Review. It is important to remember that Saddam, despite his liking for medals and camouflage outfits (and for personally mismanaging his armies), was never a military man. He came up through the torture corps in the 1960s, establishing the Baath secret police, Jihaz Haneen (the "instrument of yearning"), and putting himself about in the Qasr al-Nihayah ("the Palace of the End"), perhaps the most feared destination in Iraq until its demolition, after an attempted coup by the chief inquisitor, Nadhim Kazzar, in 1973.

[coughlin78-4] Coughlin, Con (2002). Saddam: The Secret Life. London, U.K.: MacMillan. p. 78. ISBN 0-333-78200-3.

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