Saddam Hussein's daughter seeking publisher for his memoirs


Raghad Saddam Hussein, late Iraqi dictator's eldest daughter, aims to release handwritten autobiography as soon as possible

Saddam Hussein, on trial for crimes against humanity, argues with prosecutors in Baghdad, 2006
Story of my life … Saddam Hussein, on trial for crimes against humanity, argues with prosecutors in Baghdad, 2006. Photograph: David Furst/EPA

Saddam Hussein's daughter is looking for a publisher for her late father's handwritten memoirs, according to a report from the Arab news channel Al Arabiya.

Raghad Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator's eldest daughter, lives in exile in Jordan. Her lawyer, Haitham Nabil al-Harsh, told the Dubai-based Al Arabiya: "These are the only real memoirs Saddam Hussein wrote by hand and they will be released as soon as we find a publishing house." He did not reveal how long Hussein spent writing the memoirs, or what they would contain.

Saddam Hussein is also the purported author of four novels: Get Out, You Damned One; Walled Fortress; Men and the City; and Zabiba and the King, described as "an allegorical love story between a mighty king (Saddam) and a simple yet beautiful commoner named Zabiba (the Iraqi people), [raped by] a cruel and unloving husband (the United States)" in an English translation on Amazon. It is not known whether he wrote the books himself or if they were penned by a ghostwriter.

Al Arabiya reported that Raghad Saddam Hussein had previously objected to a book released in 2009 by her father's lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, called Saddam Hussein: From an American Cell – This Is What Happened.

The book was based on diaries and conversations, and included poems and letters by the former dictator, who was executed for crimes against humanity in 2006.

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