Saddam Hussein Aide Executed in Iraq

A file photograph dated 01 July 2004, shows Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Khatab in an Iraqi court at Camp Victory near Baghdad, Iraq. Photo by BGNES

Iraq has executed the personal secretary to its late ruler Saddam Hussein, state TV reported Thursday.

Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti was Hussein's personal secretary, national security adviser and senior bodyguard, the report said.

Al-Tikriti was the ace of diamonds in the U.S. military's card deck of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. He was No. 4 on the list behind Hussein and his sons Uday and Qusay.

He and members of Hussein's special security forces were captured in a 2003 raid by U.S. Special Operations Forces near the north-central Iraq town of Tikrit.

The Iraqi High Tribunal had sentenced al-Tikriti to death for genocide and crimes against humanity.

The 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime.

Hussein was executed in December 2006 after being found guilty of crimes against humanity in the killings of Shiite villagers in 1982.