In 1978, Hussain Al-Shahristani became chief scientific adviser to the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission. In 1979 he was arrested after refusing to help develop nuclear weapons. He spent 11 years in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, 10 of them in solitary confinement, before escaping and fleeing to the west in 1991. Since then he has chaired the Iraqi Refugee Aid Council. He is also chairman of the standing committee of the Iraqi National Academy of Science. He is now working on humanitarian projects in southern Iraq.
How well did you know Saddam Hussein?
I knew Saddam closely because he was…
