Scientist jailed for telling truth about Iraqi weapons, say family

IRAQ: As Iraqis swelter without air conditioning, buy water from lorries, and queue for hours for petrol, the man who led the rapid reconstruction after the 1991 war sits in a cell composing poetry in his head.

Dr Amer Saadi (66), then minister of industry, deployed Iraq's scientists and engineers at bombed power plants, water treatment and pumping facilities and bridges. A year later lights blazed all through the night in the capital, water flowed into homes, and petrol was plentiful. In the aftermath of the 2003 war, Dr Saadi was rebuffed when he offered his services once again.

He resides in solitary confinement in a small cell at Baghdad International Airport where other so-called high-value detainees are being held. He is allowed out of his cell for one hour a day for exercise and may write a one-page letter a week to his German wife, Helma, who has seen him only three times since his detention and spoken to him several times on the phone.

Dr Saadi has a cot with a mattress and a plastic chair, but no table, radio, television, no newspaper, paper or pen. He has not been told that US experts have failed to find banned weapons in Iraq. Nor was he allowed to accompany to the Shia holy city of Najaf for burial the bodies of two brothers who died last weekend. He has a Koran and one recreational book at a time. He is clad in a yellow jumpsuit and eats military rations. Although the temperature soars to 48-50 degrees, the airconditioner often breaks down.

Expecting to be interrogated and set free, Dr Saadi, number 55 on the US's most wanted list, surrendered to the US military on April 11th, 2003, two days after the fall of Baghdad. He was on the list because he became a media personality while dealing with UN inspectors seeking Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Sent on a military scholarship to Battersea College of Technology, Dr Saadi made a civilian career in the armed forces, retiring as a lieutenant general. A member of the presidential scientific committee, he was chosen as spokesman in 2002 because he could tell the world in fluent English that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. Nevertheless, the US and Britain waged war to destroy Iraq's alleged arsenal but have not been able to find any trace of it.

Dr Radhwan Saadi, a British-educated geologist who is director of finance and accounting at the Ministry of Oil, is furious that his brother continues to be held. Interrogators from the CIA and US Defence Department say they have concluded their debriefing. Dr Radhwan said: "I keep asking why he is not free. Please tell me what he has done." Officials reply that his brother has not provided all the information they seek, suggesting he is being punished for refusing to lie.

Dr Radhwan said: "They are afraid to admit even to themselves that they have lied. They are keeping him to make sure he is silent. Amer is simply telling the truth to people who are lying . . . they cannot keep on blaming others for what they have done [waging a disastrous war on a false pretext]. The more powerful you are, the more able you should be to admit mistakes. The opposite is true."

Dr Radhwan said his brother made his contribution to his country's weapons programmes in the 1970s and 1980s when the government was in the good books of the Western powers. "They don't like to be reminded that they were the best allies of Saddam and Iraq [at that time]. We saw the big policy-makers of the world supporting this government so [we thought] it must have its positive sides. Indeed, it was not a bad government in the '70s and '80s. [The occupation of Kuwait in] 1990 changed their minds, but we did not have the luxury of changing our opinion." Dr Amer Saadi was appointed industry minister in 1991 and retired in 1993 when he joined the president's scientific advisory committee, which he did not chair.

"He is a professional serving his country," said Dr Radhwan. Although he was on the committee advising the president, "Amer did not see him after 1995". Dr Saadi is classified as "enemy combatant", "high-value prisoner", and "security prisoner", not "prisoner of war". If he had been a POW, he would have to have been charged before the US formally ended its occupation on June 28th, as were Saddam Hussein and 11 others. Dr Saadi has the same classification as detainees at the US base at Guantánamo in Cuba. Furthermore, the man supervising the airport prison is Gen Geoffrey Miller, who was dispatched from Guantánamo to Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq to upgrade interrogation techniques. He recommended abusive and illegal methods which contributed to the torture scandal that broke last April.

Dr Saadi's friends and admirers have formed a committee to lobby for his release. He is a hero to many Iraqis, not only because of his work in 1991, but also because he designed the rockets used against Tehran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, ending the conflict. Above all, he is honoured for defying an order issued by the regime to senior officials to divorce foreign wives. He risked his life when he stood by Helma and their three children, gaining the respect of Iraqis.

Dr Radhwan has learnt that US officials are still "studying" the case and "looking at procedures". He said that since there are now 94 "high-value" detainees, instead of 55, it could "take time" to review all the cases. While US officials agree there are half a dozen who should be freed, including Dr Amer Saadi, no exceptions can be made unless the Iraqi premier, Dr Ayad Allawi, intervenes. However, few people in Baghdad believe even he could secure Dr Saadi's freedom before the US elections in November. This would be seen as an admission that he was right about Iraq having no weapons of mass destruction.