- LONDON (AFP) -- An Iraqi
scientist reputedly close to Saddam Hussein died while being held at a
US base in Baghdad, a British newspaper reported.
-
- Professor Mohammed al-Izmerly, whose name appeared on
a list of 200 people close to the ousted Iraqi dictator, died of "brainstem
compression", according to an official diagnosis by US military doctors,
The Guardian newspaper said.
-
- But according to Faik Amin Baker, head of the autopsy
service at Baghdad hospital, the scientist died from a sudden blow to the
back of the head.
-
- "He died from a massive blow to the head. We don't
disagree with the coalition's report but it doesn't explain how he got
his injuries in the first place," the paper quoted him as saying.
-
- The death certificate with the body, which was delivered
to the Baghdad morgue and identified only by the number 1909, did not mention
the skull fracture.
-
- Arrested on April 26, 2003 at his home in Baghdad, al-Izmerly
was held for almost nine months by US forces before his family was able
to visit him, on January 11, 2004.
-
- "When I saw him, his health was good. I asked the
Americans why they had arrested him. They told me simply 'he is a witness'",
one of his daughters, Rana, 24, told The Guardian.
-
- Barely a month later, on February 19, the Red Cross announced
his death to the family.
-
- "I will hate Americans and British people for the
rest of my life. You are democrats. You said you were coming to bring democracy
to Iraq, and yet you killed my father", Rana said.
-
- "You offer no proof that he did something wrong,
you refuse him a lawyer, and then you kill him. Why?"
-
- Copyright © 2004 Agence France Presse. All rights
reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority
of Agence France Presse. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040524/wl_mideast_
afp/iraq_us_britain&cid=1514&ncid=1473
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