‘Saddam Hussein’s weapons chief’ has lived in Britain for 15 years & has senior role at top university
AN alleged weapons chief who worked for Saddam Hussein has lived in Britain for over 15 years — and has a senior role at a top university.
Dr Saleh Al-Atabi is accused of being a “group leader” for the dictator’s brutal Ba’ath Party, which was responsible for massive and grave violations of human rights and “widespread terror”, the Home Office says.
The physics whizz, in his 50s, is also accused of being recruited by Iraqi state-owned company the Military Production Organisation — which court papers say made weapons such as explosives and AK-47s.
He fled to Britain with his wife and two children three years after the fall of Saddam’s regime in 2003.
He has since received a PhD from Imperial College London — where he works as a research technician — in physics and technology of nuclear reactors.
He was allowed to remain in the UK indefinitely in 2013 on human rights grounds.
Two Home Secretaries have refused him British citizenship.
Details of his apparent past emerged in High Court papers after he tried to get a British passport.
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Those papers quote him saying: “I had to flee because I was a group leader for the Ba’ath Party.”
Dr Al-Atabi was contacted for comment.