A source within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, a Kurdish political party Tuesday told Al Bawaba that Saddam Hussein's vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan was arrested. The source, who did not want to be named, added that Ramadan was detained by Kurdish forces in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The story was later confirmed by foreign news agencies.
Hours after his capture, Ramadan was handed over to U.S. forces, the U.S. Defense Department stated.
Ramadan served as the Vice President of Iraq from March 1991 to the fall of Saddam in April 2003. Originally, a bank clerk, he later joined the military, and in 1956, the then illegal Ba'ath Party, where he first met Saddam.
Ramadan, 65, was one of Saddam's key foreign policy advisers. He was the Ten of Diamonds in the most wanted Iraqi playing cards and number 20 on a U.S. list of Saddam Hussein's 55 most-wanted lieutenants.
He has been accused by Iraqi exiles of crimes against humanity for his role in crushing the Shia uprising in southern Iraq in 1991 and his alleged involvement in the killing of thousands of Kurds in the north in 1988.
Iraqi opposition forces have also claimed he hosted Osama Bin Laden's deputy, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, in Baghdad in 1998.
Before the 2003 War, Ramadan was quoted as saying that the Bush administration "is Zionist... more Zionist than the Jews".
According to media reports, Ramadan has survived a number of assassination attempts, including two in 1997 and one in 1999.
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
