Saddam’s nephew wants brother off terrorist list

BAGHDAD: One of Saddam Hussein’s nephews has broken ranks with his extended family to denounce any relatives who still have links with Iraq’s Baath Party and to urge the government to take his brother’s name off a “most wanted” list of terror suspects.

Khattab Watban Ibrahim Al-Hassan told Arab News that Baghdad is wrong to accuse his brother, Ahmed, of maintaining ties with old regime networks now allied to militant groups including Daesh and Al-Qaeda.

Speaking via phone from his residence in Qatar, Al-Hassan said: “We are among those who are facing the wrath of the Baathists, so we have no relationship with them.”

On Sunday, Arab News revealed that Iraqi security forces had sent the UN and Interpol a wanted list of roughly 60 suspects accused of orchestrating the ongoing insurgency in the country.

Among those identified on the list are Al-Hassan’s brother, who is said to be leading and financing an armed Baathist group in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad.

Khattab and Ahmed are the sons of Watban Ibrahim Hassan Al-Tikriti, interior minister of Saddam’s regime, and the dictator’s half-brother.

Iraqi authorities have revealed a new list of “most wanted” figures. Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, unsurprisingly, tops the list, according to a copy seen by Arab News.

The list, the third one produced by the Iraqi security authorities in recent days, contains 14 names.

Among them are five suspects from other Arab countries — one Qatari, two Saudis, one Jordanian and one Yemeni.

Abdulrahamn Al-Qaduli, the second in command of Daesh, Nashwan Abd Al-Razzaq Abd Al-Baqi, one of the top leaders of Al-Qaeda and Muthana Harith Al-Dhari, the secretary-general of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq are all on the list.

The document does not provide much information about each suspect other than the family name, the first name, the date and place of birth and the nationality.