Saddam’s daughter complains
January 09, 2007
LONDON: The day before his execution, Saddam Hussein was denied the chance to meet with a son of one of his co-defendants in Baghdad, the late Iraqi leader’s youngest daughter said in an interview published in Britain.
Rana Hussein also was quoted by The Sunday Times as saying that US and Iraqi officials denied her father’s request to be buried in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, the area of Iraq where many of the country’s Sunni Arab insurgents are fighting. Saddam, 69, who was hanged in Baghdad on Dec 30, told his lawyers beforehand to inform his daughters Rana and Raghad, who was in charge of his defence strategy, not to plead for his life.
“This is the moment we have all been anticipating; this is our destiny. ... The leader has to bear and shoulder his responsibilities and fate, and this is the moment we prove to all that we were indeed the leaders,” Rana quoted her father as saying.
Saddam, a Sunni Arab, was sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Shias and hanged in a chaotic execution that has drawn global criticism for Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government.
Rana, who lives in Amman, Jordan, said during the interview at her home there that she and Raghad were emotionally devastated by their father’s execution, even though both of their husbands had been killed on Saddam’s orders after they defected to Jordan but returned in 1996 upon receiving guarantees of safety. “My loss is enormous and nothing will substitute for it.
It is bigger than the loss of my two brothers, for he was my only hope and it was from him that I gained my strength,” Rana said of Saddam. She and Raghad had both forgiven their father for having their husbands killed. Rana told The Sunday Times that she and Raghad received unconfirmed reports on Dec 29 that Saddam would be executed in several hours.
The sisters kept in constant touch with a son of one of Saddam’s co-defendants, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, who was in Iraq at the time, Rana said. He requested a meeting with Saddam. The Americans, who were still holding the former president, said they would check and let him know, she said. But the Americans later said the requested meeting was no longer possible because “the matter is no longer in our hands.” Saddam’s family and his defence team believe that indicates he was handed over to the Iraqi government much earlier than has been reported, Rana was quoted as saying.
Both sisters found out about the execution in TV headlines at home, Rana said. She said the Iraqi government wanted to bury Saddam in secret to prevent his tomb becoming a shrine honoured by Sunni citizens and insurgents, but the sisters wanted his body turned over to them for burial in Yemen. Prominent tribes in Ramadi offered to bury him there, as he had requested, Rana was quoted as saying.
This was acceptable to the family but not to the Iraqi government or the Americans since it would almost certainly boost the Sunni insurgents’ resolve, she said. The wrangling went on until Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki came under US pressure to compromise by releasing the body to Saddam’s tribe in Tikrit, the capital of his home region.
Tribal leaders were flown to Baghdad to take the corpse home in a wooden coffin. Initially, Rana said, the Americans suggested they make their own way back, but Saddam’s relatives knew Shia militias would kill the tribal leaders if they were caught travelling with the body. Eventually, the Americans flew Saddam’s remains to Tikrit, she said.
Rana Hussein also was quoted by The Sunday Times as saying that US and Iraqi officials denied her father’s request to be buried in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, the area of Iraq where many of the country’s Sunni Arab insurgents are fighting. Saddam, 69, who was hanged in Baghdad on Dec 30, told his lawyers beforehand to inform his daughters Rana and Raghad, who was in charge of his defence strategy, not to plead for his life.
“This is the moment we have all been anticipating; this is our destiny. ... The leader has to bear and shoulder his responsibilities and fate, and this is the moment we prove to all that we were indeed the leaders,” Rana quoted her father as saying.
Saddam, a Sunni Arab, was sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Shias and hanged in a chaotic execution that has drawn global criticism for Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government.
Rana, who lives in Amman, Jordan, said during the interview at her home there that she and Raghad were emotionally devastated by their father’s execution, even though both of their husbands had been killed on Saddam’s orders after they defected to Jordan but returned in 1996 upon receiving guarantees of safety. “My loss is enormous and nothing will substitute for it.
It is bigger than the loss of my two brothers, for he was my only hope and it was from him that I gained my strength,” Rana said of Saddam. She and Raghad had both forgiven their father for having their husbands killed. Rana told The Sunday Times that she and Raghad received unconfirmed reports on Dec 29 that Saddam would be executed in several hours.
The sisters kept in constant touch with a son of one of Saddam’s co-defendants, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, who was in Iraq at the time, Rana said. He requested a meeting with Saddam. The Americans, who were still holding the former president, said they would check and let him know, she said. But the Americans later said the requested meeting was no longer possible because “the matter is no longer in our hands.” Saddam’s family and his defence team believe that indicates he was handed over to the Iraqi government much earlier than has been reported, Rana was quoted as saying.
Both sisters found out about the execution in TV headlines at home, Rana said. She said the Iraqi government wanted to bury Saddam in secret to prevent his tomb becoming a shrine honoured by Sunni citizens and insurgents, but the sisters wanted his body turned over to them for burial in Yemen. Prominent tribes in Ramadi offered to bury him there, as he had requested, Rana was quoted as saying.
This was acceptable to the family but not to the Iraqi government or the Americans since it would almost certainly boost the Sunni insurgents’ resolve, she said. The wrangling went on until Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki came under US pressure to compromise by releasing the body to Saddam’s tribe in Tikrit, the capital of his home region.
Tribal leaders were flown to Baghdad to take the corpse home in a wooden coffin. Initially, Rana said, the Americans suggested they make their own way back, but Saddam’s relatives knew Shia militias would kill the tribal leaders if they were caught travelling with the body. Eventually, the Americans flew Saddam’s remains to Tikrit, she said.
