Lebanon extradites to Iraq ‘Saddam grandnephew’ accused of Daesh link

In this 2015 file photo, an Iraqi man prays for his slain relative at the site of a mass grave, believed to contain the bodies of Iraqi soldiers killed by Daesh militants when they overran Camp Speicher military base, in Tikrit, Iraq. (AP/File)

• Abdullah Sabawi, dubbed the "grandnephew" of the executed dictator by Iraqi media, was extradited on Wednesday
• His family has denied the accusations, telling AFP he had been in Yemen at the time of the killings

BAGHDAD: Lebanon extradited a man said to be a grandnephew of Saddam Hussein to Iraq, where he is accused of involvement in a massacre by Daesh group, a security source said Saturday.
Abdullah Sabawi, dubbed the “grandnephew” of the executed dictator by Iraqi media, was extradited on Wednesday, the security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“He is accused of having been a member of Daesh and having participated in the Speicher massacre” of 2014, in which up to 1,700 air force cadets were executed by the militant group, the source added.
A Lebanese judicial source said Sabawi, born in 1994, “was detained on June 11” following an Interpol notice calling for his arrest over his alleged involvement in the massacre.
“Iraq requested his extradition,” the Lebanese source added.
Sabawi’s family has denied the accusations, telling AFP he had been in Yemen at the time of the killings.
The Camp Speicher massacre was considered one of Daesh’s worst crimes after it took over large parts of Iraq in 2014.
Video footage released by Daesh showed an assembly-line massacre in which gunmen herded their victims toward the banks of the Tigris, shot them in the back of the head and pushed them into the river one after the other.
Dozens have been sentenced to death by Iraqi courts over their involvement in the killings, many of them having already been executed.