Washington green-lighted Jordan to receive Saddam's two daughters
Jordan-Iraq, Politics, 8/2/2003

For the second time in 8 years, Saddam's two daughters Raghad and Rana, who were hiding in Syria, resorted to Jordan which gave them "protection" together with their nine children, following a green light by the US.

A source close to Raghada and Rana Saddam Hussein said that the two daughters of the Iraqi president and their families who resorted to Syria after the collapse of the Iraqi regime in April "arrived in Jordan on Thursday on board of a Jordanian plane coming from Syria."

The source which asked to be anonymous added that "Saddam's two daughters were in Syria where they resorted two weeks after the collapse of Baghdad, by the end of April. Another relative to the family said replying to a question of the fate of their mother Sajeeda, the wife of the toppled President "she is still in Syria."

The source which also asked to be anonymous said "She had fled with her two daughters and their children to Syria, but decided not to accompany them to Jordan as far as the fate of her husband is still unknown." Meantime, a high ranking source at the Jordanian royal court said on Thursday that the Jordanian King Abdullah II agreed to host Saddam Hussein's two daughters in Jordan for humanitarian reasons and because of the difficult situations in their country.

Jamal Kamel Hassan Al-Majeed ( 34 year old) the brother of the two husbands of Raghad and Rana said he had arrived "several days ago" to Jordan at the request of Raghad and Rana and asked the Jordanian authorities to permit them to stay in Jordan. He added that Jordan "asked for the consent of the Americans to receive them." The Americans did not oppose that, as Saddam's two daughters were not concerned with the crimes of their father, especially that they had feld from him in 1995." Jamal Kamel said that the sister of the Jordanian King, Princess Aesha al-Hussein, received Rana and Raghad upon their arrival on Thursday evening in Amman.

He added "Princess Aesha received them at the airport where I was personally there" noting that Saddam's two daughters and their children are living in one of the "Royal houses" in Amman. He explained that Raghad ( 34 year old), the widow of Hussein Kamel Hassan Al-Majeed came with her five children. They are three boys and two girls (Ali, Saddam, Wahaj, Harir and Benan ), while Rana the widow of Saddam Kamel Hassan Al-Majeed came with her four children. They are three boys and one girl (Ahmad, Saad, Hussein and Naba.)

Raghad and Rana resorted for the first time to Amman in August 1995 with their two husbands, Hussein Kamel Hassan al-Majid who was the minister of industry and his brother Saddam Kamel who was responsible for the protection of the Iraqi President, and 30 members of al-Majid family, including their elder brother Hakim.

They announced their split from the Iraqi regime while Hussein Kamel surprised the world by calling for toppling this regime.

However, Hussein Kamel's adventure lasted only for 6 months. In February, 1996 he decided to return back to Iraq after getting guarantees to his safety conveyed by Ode Saddam Hussein and members of his split family received a pardon from the Iraqi President.

Jamal Kamal Hassan Al-Majeed, the only survivor of this family said "when my brothers announced their split from the regime, I was arrested in Baghdad and was released upon their return back in February 1996. I saw them just for one day when we had dinner together at the house of Ode who was behaving normally. Then, I had left for Tikrit and all of them headed for the family house in Baghdad where they were killed."

The three brothers were killed in the same day, together with their sister which joined them in Amman together with her four children and also another sister and her son and their father."

Ali Hassan al-Majeed , the cousin of Hussein and Saddam Kamel Hassan al-Majid, supervised the liquidation operation of the family in its house in Baghdad. Since 1996, Saddam's two daughters lived in isolation with their mother Sajeeda in Iraq. Saddam has also a third daughter, Hala, the American forces arrested her husband following the collapse of the regime in Iraq.

Previous Stories:
  Saddam's two daughters under Jordanian protection   (8/1/2003)
  Saddam's two daughters under Jordanian protection   (8/1/2003)
  King Abdullah discussed conditions in Iraq with Abizaid   (8/1/2003)
  Jordan confiscates Iraqi assets to secure Jordan's interest   (7/16/2003)
  Iraqi ambassador in Amman refuses to return back home   (6/14/2003)

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