Daughter leads Saddam tribute

Published on Thursday 8 February 2007 00:08

THE tearful elder daughter of Saddam Hussein joined hundreds of Baathists in the Yemeni capital yesterday to mark the passage of 40 days of mourning the dictator's death.

Raghad Hussein, accompanied by her son and daughter and several of Saddam's defence lawyers, was greeted with chants of "Revenge, revenge for Saddam" and "Eternity to Saddam", on her arrival at Sana airport.

A convoy of cars carrying pictures of Saddam drove them to a palace in Sana for a ceremony which was hosted by the chief of the state security forces, Yahia Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, who is also a cousin of the Yemeni president.

Addressing the gathering, Raghad praised the insurgents in Iraq, saying that "as long as the resistance and the mujahideen are fulfilling their duties in Iraq, the Iraqi people, without any doubt, will achieve victory."

She went on: "Saddam Hussein is the real hero and the pan-Arab leader. I am proud of him and proud of his great struggle and sacrifices."

Other speakers at the ceremony lashed out at the United States and Iran, and some unnamed Arab regimes that they labelled as US collaborators in Iraq.

Saddam loyalists chose to mark the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period in Yemen a day early, to draw attention away from other ceremonies across the Middle East the following day.

Raghad, who supervised her father's defence, has lived in Jordan under the condition that she does not engage in political activities or make public statements.