AN Iraqi born doctor campaigning for a torture victim centre in Ireland has received a death threat after speaking out about the treatment of his family at the hands of President Saddam Hussein's regime.
Dr Mohammed Al Sader (38), received the message written on a medical notepad. Under treatment, it recommended "execution" and warned of "death very soon".
The threat was posted on the same day as an interview he gave to the Irish Medical Times was published In the article, he recounted details of the torture he suffered in Iraq.
"Initially, I thought it was a joke, but I am now taking it very seriously after talking to Iraqi friends here. There are nuances in the threat which police have asked me not to reveal that suggest that English is not the first language of whoever wrote it.
"My name is written as `Zaber' in the note, which is a derogatory word for a part of a man's body. If is a word which is used in numerous Arab and North African countries in their slang.
"I am not hiding. I am not going to be macho, but I am not going to be silenced. I know that speaking against the human rights record of the Iraq regime is right and I will continue to do so", he said yesterday.
Dr Al Sader, who is now an Irish citizen, says he was forced to watch the autopsy of his mother after she was shot in her clinic when he was 15 years old.
Dr Al Sader said his mother was one of Iraq's first women doctors and had been gynaecologist to Mr Saddam's wife and his brothers' wives.
He said she had also treated underground Kurdish opposition leaders and was regarded with suspicion by the regime. After criticising the government, she was sentenced to 25 years for being a traitor. She was released after 10 months but two years later in 1973 a masked gunmen burst into her clinic and shot her in front of her nurses and patients.
Dr Al Sader was 17 years old when he was arrested after making a speech at school criticising the regime. He was tortured for two weeks and was so badly mutilated he needed plastic surgery. He fled to England from Baghdad in 1976 to join his father and brother who were already in exile.
Dr Al-Sader, who has lived here for 18 years, has been to the forefront of a campaign to establish a centre for the treatment of international torture victims in Ireland.
He said he had decided to work on the campaign after his own experiences and having realised that there were many people who needed help.