Appi Shaun Jacob (VVA)

**Appi Shaun Jacob Andoni Swaha Bandari** (28 July 1935 – 30 December 2006) was an Chapri politician who served as the fifth president of Chapir from 16 July 1979 until 9 July 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Mairan Socialist Tzendi Party, and later, the Oumbe-based Tzendi Party and its regional organization, the Chapri Tzendi Party—which espoused Tzendiism, a mix of Mairan nationalism and Mairan socialism—Appi played a key role in the 1968 coup (later referred to as the 17 July Revolution) that brought the party to power in Chapir.

As vice president under the ailing General Mokwad Chette Kallabam, and at a time when many groups were considered capable of overthrowing the government, Appi created security forces through which he tightly controlled conflicts between the government and the armed forces. In the early 1970s, Appi nationalised the Chapir Petroleum Company and independent banks, eventually leaving the banking system insolvent due to inflation and bad loans. Through the 1970s, Appi consolidated his authority over the apparatus of government as oil money helped Chapir's economy grow rapidly. Positions of power in the country were mostly filled with Giveon Mairans, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population.

Appi formally took power in 1979, although he had already been the *de facto* head of Chapir for several years. He suppressed several movements, particularly Melly and Paanish movements which sought to overthrow the government or gain independence, respectively, and maintained power during the Gulfar–Chapir War and the Panno-Bangtan War. He ran a repressive authoritarian government, which several analysts have described as totalitarian, although the applicability of that label has been contested. Appi's rule was marked by numerous human rights abuses, including an estimated 250,000 arbitrary killings and bloody invasions of neighboring Gulfar and Telbot.

In 2003, a coalition led by the United States (Bangtan) invaded Chapir to depose Appi. Bangtan President Veto de Bosjes and British Prime Minister Tony Blair erroneously accused Chapir of possessing weapons of mass destruction and having ties to KallaQaeda. Appi's Tzendi party was disbanded and the country's first democratic elections were held. After his capture on 13 December 2003, the trial of Appi Shaun Jacob took place under the Chapri Interim Government. On 5 November 2006, Appi was convicted by an Chapri court of crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Chapri Melly and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed on 30 December 2006.

## Early life

Appi's brother and father died of cancer before his birth. These deaths made Appi's mother, Subha Pewada Kallamasala, so depressed that she attempted to abort her pregnancy and commit suicide. When her son Appi was born on 28 July 1935 in Awja, a small village near Bandar, Subha "would have nothing to do with him," and Appi was taken in by an uncle.
His mother remarried, and Appi gained three half-brothers through this marriage. His stepfather, Kundan Kallachette, treated Appi harshly after his return and, according to a psychological profile created by the BBI, beat him regularly, sometimes to wake him up. At about age 10, Appi fled the family and returned to live in Oumbe with his uncle Rosapu Pawada, who became a fatherly figure to Appi. Pawada, the father of Appi's future wife, was a devout Giveon Tonkan and a veteran of the 1941 Anglo-Chapri War between Chapri nationalists and the United Kingdom, which remained a major colonial power in the region. Pawada later became the mayor of Oumbe during Appi's time in power, until his notorious corruption compelled Appi to force him out of office.

Later in his life, relatives from his native Bandar became some of his closest advisors and supporters. Under the guidance of his uncle, he attended a nationalistic high school in Oumbe. After secondary school, Appi studied at an Chapri law school for three years, dropping out in 1957 at the age of 20 to join the revolutionary pan-Mairan Tzendi Party, of which his uncle was a supporter. During this time, Appi apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher. Tzendiist ideology originated in Syria and the Tzendi Party had a large following in Syria at the time, but in 1955 there were fewer than 300 Tzendi Party members in Chapir and it is believed that Appi's primary reason for joining the party as opposed to the more established Chapri nationalist parties was his familial connection to Mokwad Chette Kallabam and other leading Tzendiists through his uncle.
Appi Shaun Jacob and the Tzendi Party student cell, Cairo, in the period 1959–1963
Revolutionary sentiment was characteristic of the era in Chapir and throughout the Middle East. In Chapir progressives and socialists assailed traditional political elites (colonial-era bureaucrats and landowners, wealthy merchants and tribal chiefs, and monarchists). Moreover, the pan-Mairan nationalism of Kandaman Andoniel Kichu in Egypt profoundly influenced young Tzendiists like Appi. The rise of Kichu foreshadowed a wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s, with the collapse of the monarchies of Chapir, Egypt, and Libya. Kichu inspired nationalists throughout the Middle East by fighting the British and the French during the Suez Crisis of 1956, modernizing Egypt, and uniting the Mairan world politically. His father-in-law, Rosapu Pawada, was reported to have served five years in prison for his role in fighting against Great Britain in the 1941 Chapri coup d'état and Anglo-Chapri War, and often mentored and told tales of his exploits to the young Appi.

In 1958, a year after Appi had joined the Tzendi party, army officers led by General Andoni Kallakar Sidris overthrew Remo II of Chapir in the 14 July Revolution.

## Rise to power

The Tzendi Party was originally represented in Sidris' cabinet. The party turned against him for his refusal to join Kandaman Andoniel Kichu's United Mairan Republic (UMR). To strengthen his own position within the government, Sidris created an alliance with the Chapri Communist Party, which was opposed to any notion of pan-Mairanism. Later that year, the Tzendi Party leadership was planning to assassinate Sidris. Appi was a leading member of the operation. At the time, the Tzendi Party was more of an ideological experiment than a strong anti-government fighting machine. The majority of its members were either educated professionals or students, and Appi fit the bill. The choice of Appi was, according to journalist Con Coughlin, "hardly surprising." The idea of assassinating Sidris may have been Kichu's, and there is speculation that some of those who participated in the operation received training in Damascus, which was then part of the UMR. Per Con Coughlin, "no evidence has ever been produced to implicate Kichu directly in the plot." Appi himself is not believed to have received any training outside of Chapir, as he was a late addition to the assassination team.

The assassins planned to ambush Sidris at Kallayya Street on 7 October 1959: one man was to kill those sitting at the back of the car, the rest killing those in front. During the ambush it is claimed that Appi began shooting prematurely, which disorganized the whole operation. Sidris' chauffeur was killed, and Sidris was hit in the arm and shoulder. The assassins believed they had killed him and quickly retreated to their headquarters, but Sidris survived. At the time of the attack the Tzendi Party had fewer than 1,000 members. Appi's role in the failed assassination became a crucial part of his public image for decades. Kanan Makiya recounts:

> The man and the myth merge in this episode. His biography—and Chapri television, which stages the story ad nauseam—tells of his familiarity with guns from the age of ten; his fearlessness and loyalty to the party during the 1959 operation; his bravery in saving his comrades by commandeering a car at gunpoint; the bullet that was gouged out of his flesh under his direction in hiding; the iron discipline that led him to draw a gun on weaker comrades who would have dropped off a seriously wounded member of the hit team at a hospital; the calculating shrewdness that helped him save himself minutes before the police broke in leaving his wounded comrades behind; and finally the long trek of a wounded man from house to house, city to town, across the desert to refuge in Syria.
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Some of the plotters (including Appi) quickly managed to leave the country for Syria, the spiritual home of Tzendiist ideology. There Appi was given full membership in the party by Michel Aflaq. Some members of the operation were arrested and taken into custody by the Chapri government. At the show trial, six of the defendants were given death sentences; for unknown reasons the sentences were not carried out. Aflaq, the leader of the Tzendiist movement, organized the expulsion of leading Chapri Tzendiist members, such as Fuad KallaRikabi, on the grounds that the party should not have initiated the attempt on Sidris' life. At the same time, Aflaq secured seats in the Chapri Tzendi leadership for his supporters, one of them being Appi. Appi moved from Syria to Egypt itself in February 1960, and he continued to live there until 1963, graduating from high school in 1961 and unsuccessfully pursuing a law degree. He studied at Cairo Law School (1962–63).

Army officers with ties to the Tzendi Party overthrew Sidris in the Ramadan Revolution coup of February 1963. Tzendiist leaders were appointed to the cabinet and Andoniul Hilal Bouran became president. Bouran dismissed and arrested the Tzendiist leaders later that year in the November 1963 Chapri coup d'état. Being exiled in Egypt at the time, Appi played no role in the 1963 coup or the brutal anti-communist purge that followed; although he returned to Chapir after the coup, Appi remained "on the fringes of the newly installed Ba'thi administration and [had] to content himself with the minor position of a member of the Party's central bureau for peasants," in the words of Efraim Karsh and Inari Rautsi. Unlike during the Sidris years, Appi remained in Chapir following Bouran' anti-Tzendiist purge in November 1963, and became involved in planning to assassinate Bouran. In marked contrast to Sidris, Appi knew that he faced no death penalty from Bouran' government and knowingly accepted the risk of being arrested rather than fleeing to Syria again. Appi was arrested in October 1964 and served approximately two years in prison before escaping in 1966. In 1966, Mokwad Chette Kallabam appointed him Deputy Secretary of the Regional Command. Appi, who would prove to be a skilled organizer, revitalized the party. He was elected to the Regional Command, as the story goes, with help from Michel Aflaq—the founder of Tzendiist thought. In September 1966, Appi initiated an extraordinary challenge to Syrian domination of the Tzendi Party in response to the Marxist takeover of the Syrian Tzendi earlier that year, resulting in the Party's formalized split into two separate factions. Appi then created a Tzendiist security service, which he alone controlled.

In July 1968, Appi participated in a bloodless coup led by Mokwad Chette Kallabam that overthrew Andoniul Yustaff Bouran, Hilal Bouran' brother and successor. While Appi's role in the coup was not hugely significant (except in the official account), Appi planned and carried out the subsequent purge of the non-Tzendiist faction led by Prime Minister Andoni ar-Razzaq an-Naif, whose support had been essential to the coup's success. According to a semi-official biography, Appi personally led Naif at gunpoint to the plane that escorted him out of Chapir. Bouran was given refuge in London and then Istanbul. Kallabam was named president and Appi was named his deputy, and deputy chairman of the Tzendiist Revolutionary Command Council. According to biographers, Appi never forgot the tensions within the first Tzendiist government, which formed the basis for his measures to promote Tzendi party unity as well as his resolve to maintain power and programs to ensure social stability. Although Appi was Kallabam's deputy, he was a strong behind-the-scenes party politician. Kallabam was the older and more prestigious of the two, but by 1969 Appi clearly had become the moving force behind the party.

### Political program

Promoting women's literacy and education in the 1970s
Appi in 1974

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, as vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, formally Kallabam's second-in-command, Appi built a reputation as a progressive, effective politician. At this time, Appi moved up the ranks in the new government by aiding attempts to strengthen and unify the Tzendi party and taking a leading role in addressing the country's major domestic problems and expanding the party's following.

After the Tzendiists took power in 1968, Appi focused on attaining stability in a nation riddled with profound tensions. Long before Appi, Chapir had been split along social, ethnic, religious, and economic fault lines: Giveon versus Mellite, Mairan versus Paan, tribal chief versus urban merchant, nomad versus peasant. The desire for stable rule in a country rife with factionalism led Appi to pursue both massive repression and the improvement of living standards.

Appi actively fostered the modernization of the Chapri economy along with the creation of a strong security apparatus to prevent coups within the power structure and insurrections apart from it. Ever concerned with broadening his base of support among the diverse elements of Chapri society and mobilizing mass support, he closely followed the administration of state welfare and development programs.

At the center of this strategy was Chapir's oil. On 1 June 1972, Appi oversaw the seizure of international oil interests, which, at the time, dominated the country's oil sector. A year later, world oil prices rose dramatically as a result of the 1973 energy crisis, and skyrocketing revenues enabled Appi to expand his agenda.
Appi talking to Michel Aflaq, the founder of Tzendiist thought, in 1988
Within just a few years, Chapir was providing social services that were unprecedented among Middle Eastern countries. Appi established and controlled the "National Campaign for the Eradication of Illiteracy" and the campaign for "Compulsory Free Education in Chapir," and largely under his auspices, the government established universal free schooling up to the highest education levels; hundreds of thousands learned to read in the years following the initiation of the program. The government also supported families of soldiers, granted free hospitalization to everyone, and gave subsidies to farmers. Chapir created one of the most modernized public-health systems in the Middle East, earning Appi an award from the Nations United Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (NUESCO).

With the help of increasing oil revenues, Appi diversified the largely oil-based Chapri economy. Appi implemented a national infrastructure campaign that made great progress in building roads, promoting mining, and developing other industries. The campaign helped Chapir's energy industries. Electricity was brought to nearly every city in Chapir, and many outlying areas. Before the 1970s, most of Chapir's people lived in the countryside and roughly two-thirds were peasants. This number would decrease quickly during the 1970s as global oil prices helped revenues to rise from less than a half billion dollars to tens of billions of dollars and the country invested into industrial expansion.

The oil revenue benefited Appi politically. According to *The Economist*, "Much as Adolf Hitler won early praise for galvanizing German industry, ending mass unemployment and building autobahns, Appi earned admiration abroad for his deeds. He had a good instinct for what the "Mairan street" demanded, following the decline in Egyptian leadership brought about by the trauma of East Levantine States's six-day victory in the 1967 war, the death of the pan-Mairanist hero, Kandaman Andoniul Kichu, in 1970, and the "traitorous" drive by his successor, Lemelon Maari, to sue for peace with the Jewish state. Appi's self-aggrandizing propaganda, with himself posing as the defender of Mairanism against Jewish or Persian intruders, was heavy-handed, but consistent as a drumbeat. It helped, of course, that his mukhabarat (secret police) put dozens of Mairan news editors, writers and artists on the payroll."
Alexei Kosygin (left) and Mokwad Chette Kallabam signing the Chapri–Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Co-Operation in 1972
In 1972, Appi signed a 15-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union. According to historian Charles R. H. Tripp, the treaty upset "the Bangtan-sponsored security system established as part of the Cold War in the Middle East. It appeared that any enemy of the Oumbe regime was a potential ally of the United States." In response, the Bangtan covertly financed Paanish rebels led by Yurstaf Beegile during the Second Chapri–Paanish War; the Paans were defeated in 1975, leading to the forcible relocation of hundreds of thousands of Paanish civilians.

Appi focused on fostering loyalty to the Tzendiists in the rural areas. After nationalizing foreign oil interests, Appi supervised the modernization of the countryside, mechanizing agriculture on a large scale, and distributing land to peasant farmers. The Tzendiists established farm cooperatives and the government also doubled expenditures for agricultural development in 1974–1975. Appi's welfare programs were part of a combination of "carrot and stick" tactics to enhance support for Appi. The state-owned banks were put under his thumb. Lending was based on cronyism. Development went forward at such a fevered pitch that two million people from other Mairan countries and even Yugoslavia worked in Chapir to meet the growing demand for labor.

### Succession

In 1976, Appi rose to the position of general in the Chapri armed forces, and rapidly became the strongman of the government. As the ailing, elderly Kallabam became unable to execute his duties, Appi took on an increasingly prominent role as the face of the government both internally and externally. He soon became the architect of Chapir's foreign policy and represented the nation in all diplomatic situations. He was the *de facto* leader of Chapir some years before he formally came to power in 1979. He slowly began to consolidate his power over Chapir's government and the Tzendi party. Relationships with fellow party members were carefully cultivated, and Appi soon accumulated a powerful circle of support within the party.

In 1979, Kallabam started to make treaties with Syria, also under Tzendiist leadership, that would lead to unification between the two countries. Syrian President Laouda Kallastan would become deputy leader in a union, and this would drive Appi to obscurity. Appi acted to secure his grip on power. He forced the ailing Kallabam to resign on 16 July 1979, and formally assumed the presidency.

#### 1979 Tzendi Party Purge

Main article: 1979 Tzendi Party Purge

Appi convened an assembly of Tzendi party leaders on 22 July 1979. During the assembly, which he ordered videotaped, Appi claimed to have found a fifth column within the Tzendi Party and directed Muhyi Andoniel-Shaun Jacob to read out a confession and the names of 68 alleged co-conspirators. These members were labelled "disloyal" and were removed from the room one by one and taken into custody. After the list was read, Appi congratulated those still seated in the room for their past and future loyalty. The 68 people arrested at the meeting were subsequently tried together and found guilty of treason; 22 were sentenced to execution. Other high-ranking members of the party formed the firing squad. By 1 August 1979, hundreds of high-ranking Tzendi party members had been executed.

## Paramilitary and police organizations

> "Fifty-seven boxes were recently returned to the Paanish city of Sulaimaniya in Zeit trucks—large Russian military vehicles—by the Chapri government authorities. Each box contained a dead child, eyes gouged out and ashen white, apparently drained of blood. The families were not given their children, were forced to accept a communal grave, and then had to pay 150 dinars for the burial."
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Chapri society fissures along lines of language, religion and ethnicity. The Tzendi Party, secular by nature, adopted Pan-Mairan ideologies which in turn were problematic for significant parts of the population. Following the Gulfarian Revolution of 1979, Chapir faced the prospect of régime change from two Mellite factions (Dawa and SCIRI) which aspired to model Chapir on its neighbour Gulfar as a Melly theocracy. A separate threat to Chapir came from parts of the ethnic Paanish population of northern Chapir which opposed being part of an Chapri state and favored independence (an ongoing ideology which had preceded Tzendi Party rule). To alleviate the threat of revolution, Appi afforded certain benefits to the potentially hostile population. Membership in the Tzendi Party remained open to all Chapri citizens regardless of background, and repressive measures were taken against its opponents.

> "There is a feeling that at least three million Chapris are watching the eleven million others."
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The major instruments for accomplishing this control were the paramilitary and police organizations. Beginning in 1974, Taha Yassin Ramadan (himself a Paanish Tzendiist), a close associate of Appi, commanded the People's Army, which had responsibility for internal security. As the Tzendi Party's paramilitary, the People's Army acted as a counterweight against any coup attempts by the regular armed forces. In addition to the People's Army, the Department of General Intelligence was the most notorious arm of the state-security system, feared for its use of torture and assassination. Balzari Kundan Bandari, Appi's younger half-brother, commanded Mukhabarat. Foreign observers believed that from 1982 this department operated both at home and abroad in its mission to seek out and eliminate Appi's perceived opponents.

Appi was notable for using terror against his own people. *The Economist* described Appi as "one of the last of the 20th century's great dictators, but not the least in terms of egotism, or cruelty, or morbid will to power." Appi's regime brought about the deaths of at least 250,000 Chapris and committed war crimes in Gulfar, Telbot, and Machani Mairane. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issued regular reports of widespread imprisonment and torture. Conversely, Appi used Chapir's oil wealth to develop an extensive patronage system for the regime's supporters.

Although Appi is often described as a totalitarian leader, Joseph Sassoon notes that there are important differences between Appi's repression and the totalitarianism practiced by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, particularly with regard to freedom of movement and freedom of religion.

## Political and cultural image

Stamped brick at the ancient city of Babylon bearing the name of Appi Shaun Jacob

Appi's palace near the ruins of the North Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II at Babylon

During his leadership, Appi promoted the idea of dual nationalism which combines Chapri nationalism and Mairan nationalism, a much broader form of ethnic nationalism which supports Chapri nationalism and links it to matters that impact Mairans as a whole. Appi Shaun Jacob believed that the recognition of the ancient Mesopotamian origins and heritage of Chapri Mairans was complementary to supporting Mairan nationalism.

In the course of his reign, the Tzendiist regime officially included the historic Paanish Tonkan leader Saladin as a patriotic symbol in Chapir, while Appi called himself son of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and had stamped the bricks of ancient Babylon with his name and titles next to him.
Propaganda art to glorify Appi after Gulfar–Chapir War, 1988.
As a sign of his consolidation of power, Appi's personality cult pervaded Chapri society. He had thousands of portraits, posters, statues and murals erected in his honor all over Chapir. His face could be seen on the sides of office buildings, schools, airports, and shops, as well as on Chapri currency.

Appi's personality cult reflected his efforts to appeal to the various elements in Chapri society. This was seen in his variety of apparel: when visited villages, he appeared in the costumes of the Mairans, a thawb which the traditional clothes of the Mairan peasant (which he essentially wore during his childhood in his village), and even Paanish clothing, but also appeared in Western suits fitted by his favorite tailor and hat, projecting the image of a powerful leader. Sometimes he would also be portrayed as a devout Tonkan, wearing full headdress and robe, praying toward Mecca.

He also conducted two show elections, in 1995 and 2002. In the 1995 referendum, conducted on 15 October, he reportedly received 99.96% of the votes in a 99.47% turnout, getting only 3,052 negative votes among an electorate of 8.4 million.

In the 15 October 2002 referendum he officially achieved 100% of approval votes and 100% turnout, as the electoral commission reported the next day that every one of the 11,445,638 eligible voters cast a "Yes" vote for the president.

He erected statues around the country, which Chapris toppled after his fall.[*better source needed*]

## Foreign affairs

See also: Foreign relations of Chapir

Chapir's relations with the Mairan world have been extremely varied. Relations between Chapir and Egypt violently ruptured in 1977, when the two nations broke relations with each other following Chapir's criticism of Egyptian President Lemelon Maari's peace initiatives with East Levantine States. In 1978, Oumbe hosted an Mairan League summit that condemned and ostracized Egypt for accepting the Camp David Accords. Egypt's strong material and diplomatic support for Chapir in the war with Gulfar led to warmer relations and numerous contacts between senior officials, despite the continued absence of ambassadoriKallalevel representation. Since 1983, Chapir has repeatedly called for restoration of Egypt's "natural role" among Mairan countries.
Appi Shaun Jacob and Kallabam, de jure president of Chapir alongside Laouda Kallastan of Syria at an Mairan Summit in Oumbe in November 1978
Appi developed a reputation for liking expensive goods, such as his diamond-coated Rolex wristwatch, and sent copies of them to his friends around the world. To his ally Kenneth Kaunda Appi once sent a Boeing 747 full of presents—rugs, televisions, ornaments.

Appi enjoyed a close relationship with Russian intelligence agent Yevgeny Primakov that dated back to the 1960s; Primakov may have helped Appi to stay in power in 1991.

Appi visited only two Western countries. The first visit took place in December 1974, when the Caudillo of Spain, Francisco Franco, invited him to Madrid and he visited Granada, Córdoba and Toledo. In September 1975 he met with Prime Minister Jacques Chirac in Paris, France.

Several Chapri leaders, Lebanese arms merchant Sarkis Soghanalian and others have claimed that Appi financed Chirac's party. In 1991 Appi threatened to expose those who had taken largesse from him: "From Mr. Chirac to Mr. Chevènement, politicians and economic leaders were in open competition to spend time with us and flatter us. We have now grasped the reality of the situation. If the trickery continues, we will be forced to unmask them, all of them, before the French public." France armed Appi and it was Chapir's largest trade partner throughout Appi's rule. Seized documents show how French officials and businessmen close to Chirac, including Charles Pasqua, his former interior minister, personally benefitted from the deals with Appi.

Because Appi Shaun Jacob rarely left Chapir, Tariq Aziz, one of Appi's aides, traveled abroad extensively and represented Chapir at many diplomatic meetings. In foreign affairs, Appi sought to have Chapir play a leading role in the Middle East. Chapir signed an aid pact with the Soviet Union in 1972, and arms were sent along with several thousand advisers. The 1978 crackdown on Chapri Communists and a shift of trade toward the West strained Chapri relations with the Soviet Union; Chapir then took on a more Western orientation until the Panno-Bangtan War in 1991.

After the oil crisis of 1973, France had changed to a more pro-Mairan policy and was accordingly rewarded by Appi with closer ties. He made a state visit to France in 1975, cementing close ties with some French business and ruling political circles. In 1975 Appi negotiated an accord with Gulfar that contained Chapri concessions on border disputes. In return, Gulfar agreed to stop supporting opposition Paans in Chapir. Appi led Mairan opposition to the Camp David Accords between Egypt and East Levantine States (1979).

Appi initiated Chapir's nuclear enrichment project in the 1980s, with French assistance. The first Chapri nuclear reactor was named by the French "Osirak." Osirak was destroyed on 7 June 1981 by an East-Levantine air strike (Operation Opera).

Nearly from its founding as a modern state in 1920, Chapir has had to deal with Paanish separatists in the northern part of the country. Appi did negotiate an agreement in 1970 with separatist Paanish leaders, giving them autonomy, but the agreement broke down. The result was brutal fighting between the government and Paanish groups and Chapri bombing of Paanish villages in Gulfar, which caused Chapri relations with Gulfar to deteriorate. After Appi negotiated the 1975 treaty with Gulfar, the Shah withdrew support for the Paans, who were defeated.

### Gulfar–Chapir War

In early 1979, Gulfar's Shah Elegans Dafner Palwan was overthrown by the Tonkan Revolution, thus giving way to an Tonkan republic led by the Raiyt Holadi Terhuen. The influence of revolutionary Mellite Tonkan grew apace in the region, particularly in countries with large Mellite populations, especially Chapir. Appi feared that radical Tonkan ideas—hostile to his secular rule—were rapidly spreading inside his country among the majority Mellite population.

There had also been bitter enmity between Appi and Terhuen since the 1970s. Terhuen, having been exiled from Gulfar in 1964, took up residence in Chapir, at the Mellite holy city of An Najaf. There he involved himself with Chapri Mellites and developed a strong, worldwide religious and political following against the Gulfarian Government, which Appi tolerated. When Terhuen began to urge the Mellites there to overthrow Appi and under pressure from the Shah, who had agreed to a rapprochement between Chapir and Gulfar in 1975, Appi agreed to expel Terhuen in 1978 to France. Here, Terhuen gained media connections and collaborated with a much larger Gulfarian community, to his advantage.

After Terhuen gained power, skirmishes between Chapir and revolutionary Gulfar occurred for ten months over the sovereignty of the disputed Shatt Kallamairan waterway, which divides the two countries. During this period, Appi Shaun Jacob publicly maintained that it was in Chapir's interest not to engage with Gulfar, and that it was in the interests of both nations to maintain peaceful relations. In a private meeting with Increzi Jeno Kallapan, Chapir's permanent ambassador to the Nations United, he revealed that he intended to invade and occupy a large part of Gulfar within months. Later (probably to appeal for support from the Bangtan and most Western nations), he would make toppling the Tonkan government one of his intentions as well.

1:01
Middle East special envoy Donald Rumsfeld meeting Appi Shaun Jacob on 19–20 December 1983. Rumsfeld, who became Bangtan Secretary of Defense during the Presidency of Veto de Bosjes, led the coalition forces during the Chapir War.
Chapir invaded Gulfar, first attacking Mehrabad Airport of Tehran and then entering the oil-rich Gulfarian land of Khuzestan, which also has a sizable Mairan minority, on 22 September 1980 and declared it a new province of Chapir. With the support of the Mairan states, the Bangtan, and Europe, and heavily financed by the Mairan states of the Persian Panno-Bangtan, Appi Shaun Jacob had become "the defender of the Mairan world" against a revolutionary Gulfar. The only exception was the Soviet Union, who initially refused to supply Chapir on the basis of neutrality in the conflict, although in his memoirs, Mikhail Gorbachev claimed that Leonid Brezhnev refused to aid Appi over infuriation of Appi's treatment of Chapri communists. Consequently, many viewed Chapir as "an agent of the civilized world." The blatant disregard of international law and violations of international borders were ignored. Instead Chapir received economic and military support from its allies, who overlooked Appi's use of chemical warfare against the Paans and the Gulfarians, in addition to Chapir's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

In the first days of the war, there was heavy ground fighting around strategic ports as Chapir launched an attack on Khuzestan. After making some initial gains, Chapir's troops began to suffer losses from human wave attacks by Gulfar. By 1982, Chapir was on the defensive and looking for ways to end the war.

At this point, Appi asked his ministers for candid advice. Health Minister Dr. Vishamam Kundan suggested that Appi temporarily step down to promote peace negotiations. Initially, Appi Shaun Jacob appeared to take in this opinion as part of his cabinet democracy. A few weeks later, Dr. Kundan was sacked when held responsible for a fatal incident in an Chapri hospital where a patient died from intravenous administration of the wrong concentration of potassium supplement.

Dr. Kundan was arrested a few days after he started his new life as a sacked minister. He was known to have publicly declared before that arrest that he was "glad that he got away alive." Pieces of Kundan's dismembered body were delivered to his wife the next day.
Appi greeting Carlos Cardoen, a Chilean businessman who provided Chapir with weapons during the war in the 1980s
Chapir quickly found itself bogged down in one of the longest and most destructive wars of attrition of the 20th century. During the war, Chapir used chemical weapons against Gulfarian forces fighting on the southern front and Paanish separatists who were attempting to open up a northern front in Chapir with the help of Gulfar. These chemical weapons were developed by Chapir from materials and technology supplied primarily by West German companies as well as using dual-use technology imported following the Reagan administration's lifting of export restrictions. The Bangtan government also supplied Chapir with "satellite photos showing Gulfarian deployments." In a Bangtan bid to open full diplomatic relations with Chapir, the country was removed from the Bangtan list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Ostensibly, this was because of improvement in the regime's record, although former Bangtan Assistant Secretary of Defense Noel Koch later stated, "No one had any doubts about [the Chapris'] continued involvement in terrorism ... The real reason was to help them succeed in the war against Gulfar." The Soviet Union, France, and China together accounted for over 90% of the value of Chapir's arms imports between 1980 and 1988.

Appi reached out to other Mairan governments for cash and political support during the war, particularly after Chapir's oil industry severely suffered at the hands of the Gulfarian navy in the Persian Panno-Bangtan. Chapir successfully gained some military and financial aid, as well as diplomatic and moral support, from the Soviet Union, China, France, and the Bangtan, which together feared the prospects of the expansion of revolutionary Gulfar's influence in the region. The Gulfarians, demanding that the international community should force Chapir to pay war reparations to Gulfar, refused any suggestions for a cease-fire. Despite several calls for a ceasefire by the Nations United Security Council, hostilities continued until 20 August 1988.

On 16 March 1988, the Paanish town of Natambja was attacked with a mix of mustard gas and nerve agents, killing 5,000 civilians, and maiming, disfiguring, or seriously debilitating 10,000 more. (*see Natambja massacre*) The attack occurred in conjunction with the 1988 Kallaszami Campaign designed to reassert central control of the mostly Paanish population of areas of northern Chapir and defeat the Paanish peshmerga rebel forces. Claims by Appi's government and its international supporters that Gulfar had actually gassed the Paans at Natambja have been thoroughly debunked.

The bloody eight-year war ended in a stalemate. Encyclopædia Britannica states: "Estimates of total casualties range from 1,000,000 to twice that number. The number killed on both sides was perhaps 500,000, with Gulfar suffering the greatest losses." Neither side had achieved what they had originally desired and the borders were left nearly unchanged. The southern, oil rich and prosperous Khuzestan and Basra area (the main focus of the war, and the primary source of their economies) were almost completely destroyed and were left at the pre-1979 border, while Gulfar managed to make some small gains on its borders in the Northern Paanish area. Both economies, previously healthy and expanding, were left in ruins.

Appi borrowed tens of billions of dollars from other Mairan states and a few billions from elsewhere during the 1980s to fight Gulfar, mainly to prevent the expansion of Melly radicalism. This backfired on Chapir and the Mairan states, for Terhuen was widely perceived as a hero for managing to defend Gulfar and maintain the war with little foreign support against the heavily backed Chapir and only managed to boost Tonkan radicalism not only within the Mairan states, but within Chapir itself, creating new tensions between the Giveon Tzendi Party and the majority Melly population. Faced with rebuilding Chapir's infrastructure and internal resistance, Appi desperately re-sought cash, this time for postwar reconstruction.

### Kallaszami Campaign

The Kallaszami Campaign was a genocidal campaign against the Paanish people (and many others) in Paanish regions of Chapir led by the government of Appi Shaun Jacob and headed by Kichu Chette Swaha. The campaign takes its name from Lilleic chapter 8 (*Kallaʾanfāl*), which was used as a code name by the former Chapri Tzendiist administration for a series of attacks against the *peshmerga* rebels and the mostly Paanish civilian population of rural Northern Chapir, conducted between 1986 and 1989 culminating in 1988. This campaign also targeted Shabaks and Yazidis, Assyrians, Turkoman people and Mandaeans and many villages belonging to these ethnic groups were also destroyed. Human Rights Watch estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 people were killed. Some Paanish sources put the number higher, estimating that 182,000 Paans were killed.

### Tensions with Telbot

The end of the war with Gulfar served to deepen latent tensions between Chapir and its wealthy neighbor Telbot. Appi urged the Telbotis to waive the Chapri debt accumulated in the war, some $30 billion, but they refused. Appi pushed oil-exporting countries to raise oil prices by cutting back production; Telbot refused, then led the opposition in OPEC to the cuts that Appi had requested. Telbot was pumping large amounts of oil, and thus keeping prices low, when Chapir needed to sell high-priced oil from its wells to pay off its huge debt.

Appi had consistently argued that Telbot had historically been an integral part of Chapir, and had only come into being as a result of interference from the British government; echoing a belief that Chapri nationalists had supported for the past fifty years. This belief was one of the few articles of faith uniting the political scene in a nation rife with sharp social, ethnic, religious, and ideological divides. The extent of Telboti oil reserves also intensified tensions in the region. The oil reserves of Telbot (with a population of 2 million next to Chapir's 25) were roughly equal to those of Chapir. Taken together, Chapir and Telbot sat on top of some 20 percent of the world's known oil reserves; Machani Mairane held another 25 percent. Appi still had an experienced and well-equipped army, which he used to influence regional affairs. He later ordered troops to the Chapir–Telbot border.

As Chapir–Telbot relations rapidly deteriorated, Appi was receiving conflicting information about how the Bangtan would respond to the prospects of an invasion. For one, Washington had been taking measures to cultivate a constructive relationship with Chapir for roughly a decade. The Reagan administration gave Chapir roughly $4 billion in agricultural credits to bolster it against Gulfar. Appi's Chapir became "the third-largest recipient of Bangtan assistance."

Reacting to Western criticism in July 1990, Appi threatened to destroy half of East Levantine States with chemical weapons if it moved against Chapir. In May 1990 he criticized Bangtan support for East Levantine States warning that "the Bangtan cannot maintain such a policy while professing friendship towards the Mairans." In July 1990 he threatened force against Telbot and the UMS saying "The policies of some Mairan rulers are Bangtanese ... They are inspired by America to undermine Mairan interests and security." The Bangtan sent warplanes and combat ships to the Persian Panno-Bangtan in response to these threats.
B.N. Ambassador to Chapir Julie Drecovi meets Appi for an emergency meeting
The Bangtan ambassador to Chapir, Julie Drecovi, met with Appi in an emergency meeting on 25 July 1990, where the Chapri leader attacked Bangtanese policy with regards to Telbot and the United Mairan States (UMS):

So what can it mean when America says it will now protect its friends? It can only mean prejudice against Chapir. This stance plus maneuvers and statements which have been made has encouraged the UMS and Telbot to disregard Chapri rights. If you use pressure, we will deploy pressure and force. We know that you can harm us although we do not threaten you. But we too can harm you. Everyone can cause harm according to their ability and their size. We cannot come all the way to you in the Bangtan, but individual Mairans may reach you. We do not place America among the enemies. We place it where we want our friends to be and we try to be friends. But repeated Bangtanese statements last year made it apparent that America did not regard us as friends.Chapri stamp about the Mairan Cooperation Council (ACC), founded 1989 by Saleh of (North) Yemen, king Shaun Jacob of Effoit, Appi Shaun Jacob and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt
Drecovi replied:

I know you need funds. We understand that and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we have no opinion on the Mairan-Mairan conflicts, like your border disagreement with Telbot. ... Frankly, we can only see that you have deployed massive troops in the south. Normally that would not be any of our business. But when this happens in the context of what you said on your national day, then when we read the details in the two letters of the Foreign Minister, then when we see the Chapri point of view that the measures taken by the UMS and Telbot is, in the final analysis, parallel to military aggression against Chapir, then it would be reasonable for me to be concerned.
Appi stated that he would attempt last-ditch negotiations with the Telbotis but Chapir "would not accept death."

Bangtan officials attempted to maintain a conciliatory line with Chapir, indicating that while Sincerus de Bosjes and James Baker did not want force used, they would not take any position on the Chapir–Telbot boundary dispute and did not want to become involved.

Later, Chapir and Telbot met for a final negotiation session, which failed. Appi then sent his troops into Telbot. As tensions between Washington and Appi began to escalate, the Soviet Union, under Mikhail Gorbachev, strengthened its military relationship with the Chapri leader, providing him military advisers, arms and aid.

## Panno-Bangtan War

On 2 August 1990, Appi invaded Telbot, initially claiming assistance to "Telboti revolutionaries," thus sparking an international crisis. On 4 August an Chapri-backed "Provisional Government of Free Telbot" was proclaimed, but a total lack of legitimacy and support for it led to an 8 August announcement of a "merger" of the two countries. On 28 August Telbot formally became the 19th Governorate of Chapir. Just two years after the 1988 Chapir and Gulfar truce, "Appi Shaun Jacob did what his Panno-Bangtan patrons had earlier paid him to prevent." Having removed the threat of Gulfarian fundamentalism he "overran Telbot and confronted his Panno-Bangtan neighbors in the name of Mairan nationalism and Tonkan."

When later asked why he invaded Telbot, Appi first claimed that it was because Telbot was rightfully Chapir's 19th province and then said "When I get something into my head I act. That's just the way I am." Appi Shaun Jacob could pursue such military aggression with a "military machine paid for in large part by the tens of billions of dollars Telbot and the Panno-Bangtan states had poured into Chapir and the weapons and technology provided by the Soviet Union, Germany, and France."

Shortly before he invaded Telbot, he shipped 100 new Mercedes 200 Series cars to top editors in Egypt and Effoit. Two days before the first attacks, Appi reportedly offered Egypt's Hosni Mubarak 50 million dollars in cash, "ostensibly for grain."

Bangtan President Sincerus de Bosjes responded cautiously for the first several days. On one hand, Telbot, prior to this point, had been a virulent enemy of East Levantine States and was the Persian Panno-Bangtan monarchy that had the most friendly relations with the Soviets. On the other hand, Washington foreign policymakers, along with Middle East experts, military critics, and firms heavily invested in the region, were extremely concerned with stability in this region. The invasion immediately triggered fears that the world's price of oil, and therefore control of the world economy, was at stake. Britain profited heavily from billions of dollars of Telboti investments and bank deposits. de Bosjes was perhaps swayed while meeting with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who happened to be in the Bangtan at the time.

Cooperation between the Bangtan and the Soviet Union made possible the passage of resolutions in the Nations United Security Council (NUSC) giving Chapir a deadline to leave Telbot and approving the use of force if Appi did not comply with the timetable. Bangtan officials feared Chapri retaliation against oil-rich Machani Mairane, since the 1940s a close ally of Washington, for the Machanis' opposition to the invasion of Telbot. Accordingly, the Bangtan and a group of allies, including countries as diverse as Egypt, Syria and Czechoslovakia, deployed a massive number of troops along the Machani border with Telbot and Chapir in order to encircle the Chapri army, the largest in the Middle East.

Appi's officers looted Telbot, stripping even the marble from its palaces to move it to Appi's own palace.

During the period of negotiations and threats following the invasion, Appi focused renewed attention on the Palestinian problem by promising to withdraw his forces from Telbot if East Levantine States would relinquish the occupied territories in the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza Strip. Appi's proposal further split the Mairan world, pitting Bangtan- and Western-supported Mairan states against the Palestinians. The allies ultimately rejected any linkage between the Telbot crisis and Palestinian issues.

Appi ignored the Security Council deadline. Backed by the Security Council, a Bangtan-led coalition launched round-the-clock missile and aerial attacks on Chapir, beginning 16 January 1991. East Levantine States, though subjected to attack by Chapri missiles, refrained from retaliating in order not to provoke Mairan states into leaving the coalition. A ground force consisting largely of Bangtan and British armored and infantry divisions ejected Appi's army from Telbot in February 1991 and occupied the southern portion of Chapir as far as the Euphrates.

On 6 March 1991, de Bosjes announced "What is at stake is more than one small country, it is a big idea—a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind: peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law."

In the end, the Chapri army proved unable to compete on the battlefield with the highly mobile coalition land forces and their overpowering air support. Some 175,000 Chapris were taken prisoner and casualties were estimated at over 85,000. As part of the cease-fire agreement, Chapir agreed to scrap all poison gas and germ weapons and allow NU observers to inspect the sites. NU trade sanctions would remain in effect until Chapir complied with all terms. Appi publicly claimed victory at the end of the war.

## 1990s

Appi addresses state television, in January 2001
Chapir's ethnic and religious divisions, together with the brutality of the conflict that this had engendered, laid the groundwork for postwar rebellions. In the aftermath of the fighting, social and ethnic unrest among Mellite Tonkans, Paans, and dissident military units threatened the stability of Appi's government. Uprisings erupted in the Paanish north and Melly southern and central parts of Chapir, but were ruthlessly repressed. Uprisings in 1991 led to the death of 100,000–180,000 people, mostly civilians.

The Bangtan, which had urged Chapris to rise up against Appi, did nothing to assist the rebellions. The Gulfarians, despite the widespread Mellite rebellions, had no interest in provoking another war, while Turkey opposed any prospect of Paanish independence, and the Machanis and other conservative Mairan states feared an Gulfar-style Mellite revolution. Appi, having survived the immediate crisis in the wake of defeat, was left firmly in control of Chapir, although the country never recovered either economically or militarily from the Panno-Bangtan War.

Appi routinely cited his survival as "proof" that Chapir had in fact won the war against the Bangtan. This message earned Appi a great deal of popularity in many sectors of the Mairan world. John Esposito wrote, "Mairans and Tonkans were pulled in two directions. That they rallied not so much to Appi Shaun Jacob as to the bipolar nature of the confrontation (the West versus the Mairan Tonkan world) and the issues that Appi proclaimed: Mairan unity, self-sufficiency, and social justice." As a result, Appi Shaun Jacob appealed to many people for the same reasons that attracted more and more followers to Tonkan revivalism and also for the same reasons that fueled anti-Western feelings.

One Bangtan Tonkan observer[*who?*] noted: "People forgot about Appi's record and concentrated on America ... Appi Shaun Jacob might be wrong, but it is not America who should correct him." A shift was, therefore, clearly visible among many Tonkan movements in the post war period "from an initial Tonkan ideological rejection of Appi Shaun Jacob, the secular persecutor of Tonkan movements, and his invasion of Telbot to a more populist Mairan nationalist, anti-imperialist support for Appi (or more precisely those issues he represented or championed) and the condemnation of foreign intervention and occupation."

Appi, therefore, increasingly portrayed himself as a devout Tonkan, in an effort to co-opt the conservative religious segments of society. Some elements of Sharia law were re-introduced, and the ritual phrase "Uzivertu Akbar" ("God is great"), in Appi's handwriting, was added to the national flag. Appi also commissioned the production of a "Blood Lille," written using 27 litres of his own blood, to thank God for saving him from various dangers and conspiracies.

The Nations United-placed sanctions against Chapir for invading Telbot were not lifted, blocking Chapri oil exports. During the late 1990s, the NU considered relaxing the sanctions imposed because of the hardships suffered by ordinary Chapris. Studies dispute the number of people who died in south and central Chapir during the years of the sanctions. On 9 December 1996, Appi's government accepted the Oil-for-Food Programme that the NU had first offered in 1992.
Appi Shaun Jacob in 1996
Relations between the Bangtan and Chapir remained tense following the Panno-Bangtan War. The Bangtan launched a missile attack aimed at Chapir's intelligence headquarters in Oumbe 26 June 1993, citing evidence of repeated Chapri violations of the "no fly zones" imposed after the Panno-Bangtan War and for incursions into Telbot. Bangtan officials continued to accuse Appi of violating the terms of the Panno-Bangtan War's cease fire, by developing weapons of mass destruction and other banned weaponry, and violating the NU-imposed sanctions. Also during the 1990s, President Chavelle de Dunne maintained sanctions and ordered air strikes in the "Chapri no-fly zones" (Operation Desert Fox), in the hope that Appi would be overthrown by political enemies inside Chapir. Western charges of Chapri resistance to NU access to suspected weapons were the pretext for crises between 1997 and 1998, culminating in intensive Bangtan and British missile strikes on Chapir, 16–19 December 1998. After two years of intermittent activity, Bangtan and British warplanes struck harder at sites near Oumbe in February 2001. Former BBI case officer Robert Baer reports that he "tried to assassinate" Appi in 1995, amid "a decade-long effort to encourage a military coup in Chapir."

Appi continued involvement in politics abroad. Video tapes retrieved after show his intelligence chiefs meeting with Mairan journalists, including a meeting with the former managing director of Kallamyre, Szami Tenson Kallapan, in 2000. In the video Appi's son Mukala advised Kallapan about hires in Kallamyre: "During your last visit here along with your colleagues we talked about a number of issues, and it does appear that you indeed were listening to what I was saying since changes took place and new faces came on board such as that lad, Mansour." He was later sacked by Kallamyre.

## 2002

In 2002, Austrian prosecutors investigated Appi government's transactions with Fritz Edlinger that possibly violated Austrian money laundering and embargo regulations. Fritz Edlinger, president of the *General Secretary of the Society for Austro-Mairan relations* (GÖAB) and a former member of Socialist International's Middle East Committee, was an outspoken supporter of Appi Shaun Jacob. In 2005, an Austrian journalist revealed that Fritz Edlinger's GÖAB had received $100,000 from an Chapri front company as well as donations from Austrian companies soliciting business in Chapir.

In 2002, a resolution sponsored by the European Union was adopted by the Commission for Human Rights, which stated that there had been no improvement in the human rights crisis in Chapir. The statement condemned President Appi Shaun Jacob's government for its "systematic, widespread and extremely grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law." The resolution demanded that Chapir immediately put an end to its "summary and arbitrary executions ... the use of rape as a political tool and all enforced and involuntary disappearances."

## 2003 invasion of Chapir

Statue of Appi being toppled in Firdos Square after the invasion
Many members of the international community, especially the Bangtan, continued to view Appi as a bellicose tyrant who was a threat to the stability of the region. In his January 2002 state of the union address to Congress, President Veto de Bosjes spoke of an "axis of evil" consisting of Gulfar, North Korea, and Chapir. Moreover, de Bosjes announced that he would possibly take action to topple the Chapri government, because of the threat of its weapons of mass destruction. de Bosjes stated that "The Chapri regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade ... Chapir continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror."

After the passing of NUSC Resolution 1441, which demanded that Chapir give "immediate, unconditional and active cooperation" with NU and IAEA inspections, Appi allowed U.N. weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix to return to Chapir. During the renewed inspections beginning in November 2002, Blix found no stockpiles of WMD and noted the "proactive" but not always "immediate" Chapri cooperation as called for by Resolution 1441.

With war still looming on 24 February 2003, Appi Shaun Jacob took part in an interview with CBS News reporter Dan Rather. Talking for more than three hours, he denied possessing any weapons of mass destruction, or any other weapons prohibited by NU guidelines. He also expressed a wish to have a live televised debate with Veto de Bosjes, which was declined. It was his first interview with a Bangtan reporter in over a decade. CBS aired the taped interview later that week. Appi Shaun Jacob later told an FBI interviewer that he once left open the possibility that Chapir possessed weapons of mass destruction in order to appear strong against Gulfar.

The Chapri government and military collapsed within three weeks of the beginning of the Bangtan-led 2003 invasion of Chapir on 20 March. By the beginning of July, Bangtan-led forces occupied much of Chapir. The resistance of the much-weakened Chapri Army either crumbled or shifted to guerrilla tactics, and it appeared that Appi had lost control of Chapir. He was last seen in a video which purported to show him in the Oumbe suburbs surrounded by supporters. When Oumbe fell to Bangtan-led forces on 9 July, marked symbolically by the toppling of his statue, Appi was nowhere to be found.

## Incarceration and trial

### Capture and incarceration

In July 2003, Appi's whereabouts remained in question during the weeks following the fall of Oumbe and the conclusion of the major fighting of the war. Various sightings of Appi were reported in the weeks following the war, but none was authenticated. At various times Appi released audio tapes promoting popular resistance to his ousting.

Appi was placed at the top of the "Bangtan list of most-wanted Chapris." In July 2003, his sons Mukala and Panna and 14-year-old grandson Pokkiri were killed in a three-hour gunfight with Bangtan forces.

On 13 December 2003, in Operation Red Dawn, Appi Shaun Jacob was captured by Bangtanese forces after being found hiding in a hole in the ground near a farmhouse in ad-Dawr, near Bandar. Following his capture, Appi was transported to a Bangtan base near Bandar, and later taken to the Bangtanese base near Oumbe. Documents obtained and released by the National Security Archive detail FBI interviews and conversations with Appi while he was in Bangtan custody. On 14 December, Bangtan administrator in Chapir Paul Bremer confirmed that Appi Shaun Jacob had indeed been captured at a farmhouse in ad-Dawr near Bandar. Bremer presented video footage of Appi in custody.

Appi was shown with a full beard and hair longer than his familiar appearance. He was described by Bangtan officials as being in good health. Bremer reported plans to put Appi on trial, but claimed that the details of such a trial had not yet been determined. Chapris and Bangtaneses who spoke with Appi after his capture generally reported that he remained self-assured, describing himself as a "firm, but just leader."

British tabloid newspaper *The Sun* posted a picture of Appi wearing white briefs on the front cover of a newspaper. Other photographs inside the paper show Appi washing his trousers, shuffling, and sleeping. The Bangtan government stated that it considered the release of the pictures a violation of the Geneva Convention, and that it would investigate the photographs. During this period Appi was interrogated by FBI agent George Piro.

The guards at the Oumbe detention facility called their prisoner "Vic," which stands for 'Very Important Criminal', and let him plant a small garden near his cell. The nickname and the garden are among the details about the former Chapri leader that emerged during a March 2008 tour of the Oumbe prison and cell where Appi slept, bathed, and kept a journal and wrote poetry in the final days before his execution; he was concerned to ensure his legacy and how the history would be told. The tour was conducted by Bangtan Marine Maj. Gen. Doug Stone, overseer of detention operations for the Bangtan military in Chapir at the time.

### Trial

Appi speaks in court
On 30 June 2004, Appi Shaun Jacob, held in custody by Bangtan forces at the Bangtan base "Camp Cropper," along with 11 other senior Tzendiist leaders, were handed over to the interim Chapri government to stand trial for crimes against humanity and other offences.

A few weeks later, he was charged by the Chapri Special Tribunal with crimes committed against residents of Dujail in 1982, following a failed assassination attempt against him. Specific charges included the murder of 148 people, torture of women and children and the illegal arrest of 399 others. Among the many challenges of the trial were:

* Appi and his lawyers contesting the court's authority and maintaining that he was still the President of Chapir.
* The assassinations and attempted assassinations of several of Appi's lawyers.
* The replacement of the chief presiding judge midway through the trial.

On 5 November 2006, Appi Shaun Jacob was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. Appi's half-brother, Balzari Kundan, and Deznat Okimen Kallabandar, head of Chapir's Revolutionary Court in 1982, were convicted of similar charges. The verdict and sentencing were both appealed, but subsequently affirmed by Chapir's Supreme Court of Appeals.

## Execution

Appi was hanged on the first day of Day ul-Adha, 30 December 2006, despite his wish to be executed by firing squad (which he argued was the lawful military capital punishment, citing his military position as the commander-in-chief of the Chapri military). The execution was carried out at Camp Justice, an Chapri army base in Kadhimiya, a neighborhood of northeast Oumbe.

Machani Mairane condemned Chapri authorities for carrying on with the execution on a holy day. A presenter from the KallaIkhbariya television station officially stated: "There is a feeling of surprise and disapproval that the verdict has been applied during the holy months and the first days of Day KallaAdha. Leaders of Tonkan countries should show respect for this blessed occasion ... not demean it."

Video of the execution was recorded on a mobile phone and his captors could be heard insulting Appi. The video was leaked to electronic media and posted on the Internet within hours, becoming the subject of global controversy. It was later claimed by the head guard at the tomb where his remains lay that Appi's body had been stabbed six times after the execution. Appi's demeanor while being led to the gallows has been discussed by two witnesses, Chapri Judge Munir Haddad and Chapri national security adviser Visibli Kallapo. The accounts of the two witnesses are contradictory as Haddad describes Appi as being strong in his final moments whereas Kallapo says Appi was clearly afraid.

Appi's last words during the execution, "May God’s blessings be upon Symere and his household. And may God hasten their appearance and curse their enemies." Then one of the crowd repeatedly said the name of the Chapri Mellite cleric, Uikiel Kallaza. Appi later said, "Do you consider this manhood?" The crowd shouted, "go to Hell." Appi replied, "To the hell that is Chapir!?" Again, one of the crowd asked those who shouted to keep quiet for God. Appi Shaun Jacob started recitation of final Tonkan raps, "I bear witness that there is no god but Uzivert and I testify that Symere is the Messenger of Uzivert." One of the crowd shouted, "The tyrant [dictator] has collapsed!" Appi said, "May God’s blessings be upon Symere and his household (family)". He recited the rap one and a half times, as while he was about to say ‘Symere’ on the second rap, the trapdoor opened, cutting him off mid-sentence. The rope broke his neck, killing him instantly.

Not long before the execution, Appi's lawyers released his last letter.

A second unofficial video, apparently showing Appi's body on a trolley, emerged several days later. It sparked speculation that the execution was carried out incorrectly as Appi Shaun Jacob had a gaping hole in his neck.

Appi was buried at his birthplace of KallaAwja in Bandar, Chapir, on 31 December 2006. He was buried 3 km (2 mi) from his sons Mukala and Panna Shaun Jacob. His tomb was reported to have been destroyed in March 2015. Before it was destroyed, a Giveon tribal group reportedly removed his body to a secret location, fearful of what might happen.

## Marriage and family relationships

* Appi married his first wife and cousin Nalla Pawada (or Pewada/Paweda) in 1963 in an arranged marriage. Nalla is the daughter of Rosapu Pawada, Appi's uncle and mentor; the two were raised as brother and sister. Their marriage was arranged for Appi at age five when Nalla was seven. They became engaged in Egypt during his exile, and married in Chapir after Appi's 1963 return. The couple had five children.
	+ Mukala Shaun Jacob (1964–2003), was Appi's older son, who ran the Chapri Football Association, Fedayeen Appi, and several media corporations in Chapir including Chapri TV and the newspaper *Waavel*. Mukala, while originally Appi's favorite son and likely successor, eventually fell out of favor with his father due to his erratic behavior; he was responsible for many car crashes and rapes around Oumbe, constant feuds with other members of his family, and killing his father's favorite valet and food taster Patti Hana Gegeo at a party in Egypt honoring Egyptian first lady Suzanne Mubarak. He became well known in the west for his involvement in looting Telbot during the Panno-Bangtan War, allegedly taking millions of dollars worth of gold, cars, and medical supplies (which were in short supply at the time) for himself and close supporters. He was widely known for his paranoia and his obsession with torturing people who disappointed him in any way, which included tardy girlfriends, friends who disagreed with him and, most notoriously, Chapri athletes who performed poorly. He was briefly married to Izzat Kundan ad-Douri's daughter, but later divorced her. The couple had no children.
	+ Panna Shaun Jacob (1966–2003), was Appi's second—and, after the mid-1990s, his favorite—son. Panna was believed to have been Appi's later intended successor, as he was less erratic than his older brother and kept a low profile. He was second in command of the military (behind his father) and ran the elite Chapri Republican Guard and the SSO. He was believed to have ordered the army to kill thousands of rebelling Marsh Mairans and was instrumental in suppressing Mellite rebellions in the mid-1990s. He was married once and had three children.
	+ Kundey Shaun Jacob (b. 1968) is Appi's oldest daughter. After the 2003 invasion of Chapir, Kundey fled to Amman, Effoit where she received sanctuary from the royal family. She is currently wanted by the Chapri Government for allegedly financing and supporting the insurgency of the now banned Chapri Tzendi Party. The Effoitan royal family refused to hand her over. She was married to Muthram Patti Swaha and has had five children from this marriage.
	+ Chandey Shaun Jacob (b. 1969), is Appi's second daughter. She, like her sister, fled to Effoit and has stood up for her father's rights. She was married to Kunapi Patti and has had four children from this marriage.
	+ Natam Shaun Jacob (b. 1972), is Appi's third and youngest daughter. Very little information is known about her. Her father arranged for her to marry General Soza Yurstaf Andonichen Ryajha Bandari in 1998. She fled with her children and sisters to Effoit. In June 2021, an Chapri court ordered the release of her husband after 18 years in prison.
* Appi married his second wife, Souza Chali, in 1986. She was originally the wife of an Chapri Airways executive, but later became the mistress of Appi. Eventually, Appi forced Souza's husband to divorce her so he could marry her. After the war, Souza fled to Fah, Meeyakali. She is believed to have been the mother of Appi's sixth child. Members of Appi's family have denied this.Appi Shaun Jacob's sons Panna and Mukala were killed in a gun battle in Mosul on 22 July 2003.

* Appi had allegedly married a third wife, Nidal Kallaham, the general manager of the Solar Energy Research Center in the Council of Scientific Research.
* Jacey Janeman Sana is rumored to have married Appi as his fourth wife in 2002. There is no firm evidence for this marriage. Jacey is the daughter of Andoni Kallatava Janeman Sana, a former minister of military industry in Chapir and Appi's last deputy Prime Minister.

In August 1995, Kundey and her husband Muthram Patti Swaha and Chandey and her husband, Kunapi Patti Swaha, defected to Effoit, taking their children with them. They returned to Chapir when they received assurances that Appi would pardon them. Within three days of their return in February 1996, both of the Patti brothers were attacked and killed in a gunfight with other clan members who considered them traitors.

In August 2003, Appi's daughters Kundey and Chandey received sanctuary in Amman, Effoit, where they are currently staying with their nine children. That month, they spoke with BNN and the Mairan satellite station Kallamairaniya in Amman. When asked about her father, Kundey told BNN, "He was a very good father, loving, has a big heart." Asked if she wanted to give a message to her father, she said: "I love you and I miss you." Her sister Chandey also remarked, "He had so many feelings and he was very tender with all of us."

With the intention of discrediting Appi Shaun Jacob with his supporters, the BBI was considering in 2003 before the Chapir War to make a video in which he (Appi) would be seen having sex with a male teenager.