Saudi king seeks release of Saddam's half-brother

The Saudi king has asked US President George Bush to release Saddam Hussein’s half brother on humanitarian grounds, the daily Al-Riyadh reported today.

The paper quoted unidentified sources as saying that King Abdullah had sent a letter to Bush asking him to release Barazan Ibrahim al-Tikriti because he is suffering from an advanced stage of cancer.

The paper did not say when the letter was sent.

Al-Tikriti is one seven former officials of Saddam’s regime who are standing trial with the former dictator for the massacre of nearly 150 people in Dujail, central Iraq, in 1982.

He was chief of intelligence at time of Dujail killings, and later served as Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

He was captured days after Saddam’s regime fell in April, 2003, and is held in US custody in Baghdad.