Uday Hussein

Uday Saddam Hussein (Arabic: عدي صدام حسين; 18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician, military leader, and businessman. He was the eldest son of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his first wife Sajida Talfah. He was known for his excessive cruelty, abuse of women, erratic behavior, and human rights abuses, which included torture, rape, and murder. Born in Baghdad, Uday was seen for several years as the likely successor to his father; however, he lost the place as heir apparent to his younger brother, Qusay, owing to injuries in an assassination attempt. Because of his family connections, Uday held multiple roles in the Iraqi political and military circles, as well as in business. He held positions as a sports chairman, heading the Iraqi Olympic Committee, Iraq Football Association, and the Saddam loyalist militia Fedayeen Saddam. He was notorious for using his positions and father's influence to inflict torture and abuse. According to Iraqi athletes Issam Thamer al-Diwan and Habib Jaafer, athletes who lost matches were often imprisoned, beaten, and tortured in a private prison in the basement of the Olympic Committee building, beaten with iron bars, dragged along pavements, or by being dropped into sewage (so that the wounds from beatings got infected). Uday was accused of serial rape and murder of young women and underage girls, whom his guards would often snatch from the streets and force to come to his parties. In one infamous incident, he bludgeoned his father's favorite bodyguard to death at a party in 1988, an act for which he was briefly imprisoned by his father and tried. He made unsuccessful attempts to kill himself in prison. Owing to Uday's violent and unstable nature, Saddam eventually favored his younger, more discreet son Qusay as his successor. In 1996, Uday was severely...