Watban Ibrahim al-Tikriti
Encyclopedia
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
, brother of Barzan, is a former senior Interior Minister
Interior minister
An interior ministry is a government ministry typically responsible for policing, national security, and immigration matters. The ministry is often headed by a minister of the interior or minister of home affairs...
of Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. He was taken into coalition custody April 13, 2003, following his capture as he was attempting to flee into Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
.
During his tenure as Interior Minister, he is accused of having overseen the detention, torture, and executions of hundreds of prisoners. Some of those executions were reportedly taped with copies kept at the ministry. He is a member of the Ba'ath Party. In 1995 he was shot nine times in the leg by Uday Hussein
Uday Hussein
Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti , was the eldest son of Saddam Hussein from his first wife, Sajida Talfah. He was the brother of Qusay Hussein. Uday was for several years seen as the heir apparent of his father; however, Uday lost his place in the line of succession due to his erratic behavior and...
(son of Saddam), reportedly during an argument over Watban's growing popularity among the people. He reportedly lost his leg, genitals, and part of his stomach as a result of this incident. In the aftermath of this event, Saddam ordered Watban to a position of relative obscurity in Tikrit.
On March 11, 2009, it was reported that he was sentenced to execution by hanging for his role in the execution of 42 traders who were accused of manipulating food prices.
He is the five of clubs
Playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...
in the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards
Most-wanted Iraqi playing cards
In the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition, the U.S. military developed a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of President Saddam Hussein's government, mostly high-ranking Baath Party members or members of the Revolutionary Command Council...
.