 In a letter smuggled from prison and published by Asharq al Awsat, Barzan Ibrahim al Tikriti, Saddam Husseinâs half brother, pleaded with Arab leaders to provide him with adequate medical care and revealed he was suffering from cancer of the spine.
In his first court appearance on October 19 on charges of killing 148 Shiaa men in 1982, the Barzanâs face appeared swollen. He denied charges against him, in the letter, and insisted he was âan innocent person dragged into a matter that does not concern him, and on which his view is well knownâ, in reference to disagreements with his half brothers and other pillars of the former regime. Once the former head of Iraqâs feared Mukhabarat intelligence services, Barzan was relieved from his responsibilities after a family dispute regarding the marriage of Saddamâs daughter Raghad to Hussein Kamel. After a short-lived reconciliation with the former Iraqi dictator, Barzan represented his country at the UN in Geneva for 12 years before returning to Baghdad in September 1999 as part of a diplomatic reshuffle. He maintained an uneasy relationship with the former dictator because of his opposition to the far-ranging influence enjoyed by Saddamâs sons Uday and Qusay. |