Amman, Asharq Al-Awsat-The report published by Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday regarding an arrest warrant being issued for Saddam Hussein’s daughter was confirmed by Interpol who yesterday issued an update on their website for the “wanted” Raghad Saddam Hussein in connection with “crimes against life and health” and “inciting terrorism.” However the Jordanian Minister of State for Information and Communication, Dr. Nabil al-Sharif, confirmed that the Jordanian government has not received any new requests from Interpol regarding the eldest daughter of the former Iraqi president.
The information on Interpol’s website states that “Raghad Saddam Hussein al-Majid” was born in Baghdad on 2 September 1968, that she has dual Iraqi and Jordanian nationalities, and that she is fluent in Arabic and English. The information also includes an image of Raghad Hussein, as well as a physical description that reveal that she is 1.70 meters tall and that she has brown hair and hazel eyes. As for the charges against her, the Interpol website reveals that Raghad Hussein is wanted for “crimes against life and health” and “Incitement, terrorism” and that these charges were issued by “Baghdad.” The website calls for any one with information on Raghad Hussein to contact their local or national police or the General Secretariat of Interpol.
For his part, Jordanian governmental spokesman Minister Nabil al-Sharif told Asharq Al-Awsat that “we have not received anything new from Interpol on this subject, and the last news that we received on this issue was when Interpol issued a so-called Red Notice on 23 November 2006 announcing that Mrs. Raghad was wanted. This was preceded by correspondence on 20 November of the same year between the Baghdad Interpol Division and the Amman Division that Raghad Saddam Hussein was accused in cases of financing terrorism, according to the bulletin.”
Al-Sharif also confirmed that “this matter was not pursued, and we have not received any new correspondence on this issue since that date.”
Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday also published news from the website of the Central Media office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan that an international warrant had been issued against Raghad Saddam Hussein. Raghad Hussein previously attempted to defect from Iraq to Jordan in 1996, along with her husband Hussein Kamel al-Majid. However they later returned to Iraq where al-Majid was killed.
Raghad Hussein currently lives in Amman with her 5 children. She has two sons; Uday and Saddam, and three daughters, Harir, Wahj, and Banan. She lives in Amman as the guest of Jordanian King Abdullah II after she sought refuge in Jordan following the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003.
Raghad Hussein last appeared in public at a political demonstration on the eve of her father’s execution in 2006 however she has not undertaken any political activities since that time out of respect for the Jordanian hospitality.