Iraq orders confiscation of assets of Saddam Hussein's relatives, aides

An Iraqi legal body on Monday ordered confiscation of assets of hundreds of relatives and cronies of former leader Saddam Hussein.

Tasked with vetting the members of Hussein's Baath party, the Iraqi Supreme National Commission for Accountability and Justice decided to confiscate the movable and immovable properties of a list of 4,257 people.

Their properties will be registered as properties of the Iraqi Finance Ministry, the Commission said in a statement.

Some of the named in the list are in prison, others are living abroad and some were executed, such as Saddam Hussein himself and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali".

Ali was hanged in 2010 for ordering attacks in 1988 that killed thousands of Kurds in the town of Halabcha in Iraq's northeastern province of Sulaimaniyah.

Hussein's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Hassan al-Tikriti as well as former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan were also on the list, Kurdistan 24 TV network reported.

Also included in the list was Hussein's special secretary Abdul Hamid Mahmoud, known as Abdul Hamoud, and Tareq Aziz, who died in 2015 in jail after surrendering to US forces in 2003.

The listed people have the right to object the decision in a special committee formed by the Council of Ministers to decide the fate of the seized assets, the commission said.

After the fall of the Saddam regime in 2003, property belonging to the former ruler and his Baath party members were divided among Iraq's new leaders, armed forces and multiple militias.

The seizure of assets extended to real estate, cars, bank accounts and other funds.

The Accountability and Justice Commission on its website published two lists, one including the names of 52 people whose money was confiscated.

The second list has 4,257 names, those who worked for the banned Baath party and its security service.

--IANS

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