Saddam's Half-Brother Captured
Iraqi security forces captured Saddam Hussein's half brother and former adviser, government officials said Sunday, dealing a blow to an insurgency that some Iraqi officials claim the most-wanted fugitive was helping organize and fund.
Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan was No. 36 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis — and the six of diamonds in the U.S.-issued deck of cards — released by U.S. authorities after American troops invaded Iraq in March 2003, and among a recent group of 29 most-wanted supporters of insurgents in Iraq. The United States had a $1 million bounty on his head.
Al-Hassan's arrest came during a period of increased U.S. and Iraqi military activity against insurgents, who continued their campaign of violence against coalition forces and those Iraqis they believe are helping them or sympathize with them.
Saddam and al-Hassan had the same mother but different fathers.
Under Saddam, al-Hassan led the dreaded General Security Directorate, which was responsible for internal security, especially cracking down on political parties opposing Saddam. Al-Hassan was accused of torturing and killing political opponents while leading that body.
He later became a presidential adviser, the last post he held in the former regime.
The government statement said he had "killed and tortured Iraqi people" and "participated effectively in planning, supervising, and carrying out many terrorist acts in Iraq."
In other developments:
Officials in interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed al-Hassan's capture but gave no details on where it took place or when.
It was not immediately known whether U.S. troops played any role in the arrest. The U.S. military had no comment.
In December, Allawi accused Syria of harboring senior officials from Saddam's ousted regime, including al-Hassan. Qassem Dawoud, Iraq's minister in charge of national security, claimed that al-Hassan was supporting insurgents in Iraq from Syria, according to remarks published last year in Kuwait's Al-Rai Al-Aam daily.
Al-Hassan's capture was the latest in a series of arrests the government hopes will deal a blow to the insurgency.
"This is a great achievement for the Iraqi security forces," National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told Dubai's al-Arabiya TV. "It is also a lesson for others to give themselves up to the Iraqi authorities."
Iraqi authorities said Saturday they were close to capturing the country's most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's mastermind in Iraq and believed to be behind much of the insurgent violence. One of al-Zarqawi's key aides and a man who served as his driver were arrested Feb. 20.
The United States has placed a $25 million bounty on al-Zarqawi.
In other arrests, Iraqi National Guardsmen said they captured 15 alleged insurgents Saturday in a series of raids in Musayyib, about 50 miles southwest of Baghdad, said Defense Ministry official Capt. Sabah Yassin.
The 12 Iraqis and three Syrians confessed to being members of the insurgent Ansar al-Sunnah Army, Yassin said. That group has claimed responsibility for attacking U.S. and Iraqi forces, including in a December suicide bombing that killed 22 people, mostly Americans, at a U.S. military mess tent in Mosul.
Yassin said the 15 were found with weapons and CDs showing beheadings.
Saddam's two other half brothers, Barzan and Watban, were captured in April 2003 and are expected to stand trial with Saddam at the Iraqi Special Tribunal. Both appeared before the special court in Baghdad with Saddam and a handful of others to hear preliminary accusations against them.