Saddam's nephew escapes from Iraqi prison

BAGHDAD: A nephew of former president Saddam Hussein escaped from Badush jail in northern Iraq on Saturday, apparently helped by an officer among the prison guards.   

Ayman Sabawi, the son of Saddam's half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, was seized in May 2005 in the ousted president's hometown of Tikrit and accused of financing the Sunni insurgency and providing its fighters with arms and explosives.   

"Ayman Sabawi fled today from his prison near Mosul. We have set up a commission of inquiry to find out how this escape took place," said General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, of the national police command centre. He gave no other details.   

A security source, who asked not to be named, said an officer among the prison guards had helped Sabawi to escape. The prison lies some 20 kilometres from the city of Mosul which is 370 kilometres north of Baghdad.   

Sabawi's father, who figured at number 36 on the US list of the most wanted 55 officials of the former regime, was arrested in February 2005 near the Syrian frontier.   

A former advisor to Saddam Hussein, the elder Sabawi gave testimony in favour of the ousted president during his trial over the execution of 148 Shiites from the town of Dujail where there had been an assassination attempt against the former leader.   

Saddam was condemned to death last month but has appealed against the verdict.