Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Ammar al-Saffar
Deputy Health Minister of Iraq, born 1956, abducted 2006 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Ammar al-Saffar (born 1956) was the Deputy Health Minister of Iraq from 2003 until his kidnapping and likely death in 2006.[1] On November 19, 2006, he became the highest-ranking Iraqi official to be kidnapped when he was seized by men in police uniforms.[2]
Remove ads
Career
Summarize
Perspective
Since 2003, al-Saffa, a Shiite and member of the Islamic Dawa Party[3] worked as the Deputy Health Minister of Iraq, serving under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and was noted for his open criticism of former President Saddam Hussein.[4] In 2004, he spoke to Al Jazeera about medicine that had been looted from the Ministry of Health, and about quality control weaknesses under the previous Hussein administration.[5]
His son, writing in Foreign Policy in 2010, reported that al-Saffa was on the brink of exposing evidence of Hussein and fellow deputy minister Hakim al-Zamili diverting funds for health towards armed militias.[6]
Assassination attempts and abduction
There was an attempts on al-Saffa's life in June 2004.[7][1] On November 19, 2006, al-Saffa was abducted from his Baghdad home, at gun point, by men in Iraqi army uniforms.[7][3] He was aged 50 at the time of the abduction.[1]
In February 2007, Hakim al-Zamili, and General Hamid al-Shammari, were both arrested on suspicion they had played a role in al-Saffa's and other kidnappings. However, the charges were dropped in March 2008. As of 2008[update], Saffar remains missing.[7] Saffar's son Ali said a tape was sent to his family showing a hooded figure, ostensibly al-Saffa, being shot, but no body has ever been recovered. Al-Saffar was later declared legally dead in the United Kingdom, where his wife lives.[8]
Remove ads
Personal life
Al-Saffar spent 16 years living in exile in the United Kingdom until he returned to his home country following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[9][7]
His son, Ali,[6] lives in London, England.[7]
By 2013 al-Saffa's family considered him deceased and reported feeling no closure.[10]
See also
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads