Iraq releases Dr Germ
About 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein’s government - including a British-educated biological weapons expert known as 'Dr Germ' - have been released from jail, officials in Baghdad said today.
The detainees, including many of those on the famous deck of cards handed to American soldiers on the invasion of Iraq, were released on Saturday and some were said to have already left the country.
They include Rihab Taha, who was known as Dr Germ for her role in making biological weapons in the 1980s. Also freed was Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a biotech researcher and top Baath party official known as 'Mrs Anthrax'.
Badee Izzat Aref, an Iraqi lawyer who represented some of the detainees, said: "The release was an American-Iraqi decision and in line with an Iraqi government ruling made in December 2004, but hasn’t been enforced until after the elections in an attempt to ease the political pressure in Iraq."
Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, would say only that eight individuals formerly designated as high value detainees had been released on Saturday after a board process found they were no longer a security threat and no charges would be filed against them.
Neither the US military or Iraqi officials would disclose any of the names, but a legal official in Baghdad said Ms Taha and Ms Ammash were among the 24 or 25 released. The official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said those released also included Hossam Mohammed Amin, head of the weapons inspections directorate, and Aseel Tabra, an Iraqi Olympic Committee official under Uday Hussein, Saddam's late son.
Ms Amash was ranked 53rd on the US-led coalition’s list of most wanted officials from the former regime, and was arrested in May 2003 for her work in the regime’s biological warfare programme. She was the five of hearts in the playing card deck.
Born in 1953, Ms Amash holds biology degrees from the University of Missouri and the University of Texas.
Taha holds a PhD in microbiology from the University of East Anglia, where she studied from 1980 to 1984, and was the director of an institute where scientists were carrying out research on anthrax and a bioterrorist agent based on botulism toxins.
The two were high ranking Baath party members and the only women in US hands.
The detainees, including many of those on the famous deck of cards handed to American soldiers on the invasion of Iraq, were released on Saturday and some were said to have already left the country.
They include Rihab Taha, who was known as Dr Germ for her role in making biological weapons in the 1980s. Also freed was Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a biotech researcher and top Baath party official known as 'Mrs Anthrax'.
Badee Izzat Aref, an Iraqi lawyer who represented some of the detainees, said: "The release was an American-Iraqi decision and in line with an Iraqi government ruling made in December 2004, but hasn’t been enforced until after the elections in an attempt to ease the political pressure in Iraq."
Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, would say only that eight individuals formerly designated as high value detainees had been released on Saturday after a board process found they were no longer a security threat and no charges would be filed against them.
Neither the US military or Iraqi officials would disclose any of the names, but a legal official in Baghdad said Ms Taha and Ms Ammash were among the 24 or 25 released. The official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said those released also included Hossam Mohammed Amin, head of the weapons inspections directorate, and Aseel Tabra, an Iraqi Olympic Committee official under Uday Hussein, Saddam's late son.
Ms Amash was ranked 53rd on the US-led coalition’s list of most wanted officials from the former regime, and was arrested in May 2003 for her work in the regime’s biological warfare programme. She was the five of hearts in the playing card deck.
Born in 1953, Ms Amash holds biology degrees from the University of Missouri and the University of Texas.
Taha holds a PhD in microbiology from the University of East Anglia, where she studied from 1980 to 1984, and was the director of an institute where scientists were carrying out research on anthrax and a bioterrorist agent based on botulism toxins.
The two were high ranking Baath party members and the only women in US hands.
posted by Marko at 12/19/2005 11:28:00 AM
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