BAGHDAD, Dec 5
(Reuters) - Former Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed
Hamza al-Zubaidi, who was one of Saddam Hussein's
most senior deputies in the early 1990s, died in
U.S. detention last week, the U.S. military said on
Monday.
Zubaidi, on the U.S. military's list of the 55
most-wanted Iraqis during the war, died at a U.S.
military hospital on Dec. 2, said Lieutenant Colonel
Guy Rudisill, spokesman for detainee operations in
Iraq.
The U.S. military issued a statement about the death
of an individual on Saturday, but did not refer to
Zubaidi by name.
"A 67-year-old male security detainee was pronounced
dead by the attending physician at the 344th Corps
support hospital at 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 2," is all
that statement said.
His identity only became clear when Saddam's
half-brother, a co-defendant in a trial for crimes
against humanity, revealed Zubaidi's death during a
courtroom complaint on Monday about what he said
were poor medical facilities for detainees.
It is not clear what Zubaidi died of or where he was
being held before being taken to the hospital for
treatment.
As a high-profile prisoner, it is likely that he was
being held at Camp Cropper, a small prison near
Baghdad airport where Saddam and other major
prisoners are also believed to be held.
Zubaidi was the commander of the middle Euphrates
region ahead of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in
2003.
He was named prime minister in 1991, following
Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War, but relieved of the
post two years later. He was later a deputy prime
minister.
After the Gulf War, when Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim
majority rose up against Saddam, Zubaidi, himself a
Shi'ite, was credited with having put down the
revolt, when thousands of Shi'ite Muslims were
killed by the government's security forces.
During the trial of Saddam in Baghdad on Monday,
Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother and
one of the eight defendants, referred to Zubaidi's
death.
Barzan told the judge he himself was suffering from
cancer and was not receiving proper medical
treatment. He said he did not want to end up like
Zubaidi and five other senior members of the former
regime who he said had died in custody.
Reuters |
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Hamza al-Zubaidi
Photo : AFP - Internet |
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