Iraqi-American man jailed for sending money to family in Iraq decade ago

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 13:15:00 -0600

After the Gulf War, sanctions prohibited Americans from sending money to Iraq. Iraqi-American Shakir Hamoodi broke those rules, however, when he found out his family in Iraq had miscarried, because they couldn't afford $10 antibiotics. Now he's in jail — almost 20 years after the fact.

Karen Dabrowska

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 07:41:38 -0600

This is similar to the case of Riad El Taher:
Riad El-Taher started writing this book in Wandsworth prison, south-west London where he served a ten-month sentence for breaches of sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime.
El-Taher regarded himself as a political prisoner. He was imprisoned after pleading guilty to a case brought against him by the Serious Fraud Office(SFO) for breaking UN sanctions imposed on Iraq. He was one of thousands across the world who had to pay a surcharge to the Iraqi regime following oil allocations. After the Gulf War, the UN named thousands of companies, individuals, governments etc who had been involved but only a handful of prosecutions have been brought and those have only been in the US and the UK. No other countries have gone down this route.
El-Taher paid a surcharge on allocations given to him under the UN Oil-for-Food programme to glean information which might prevent the war or lead to a relaxation of sanctions. He had direct access to Saddam’s deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz and briefed diplomats, including the MI6 attaché at the British Embassy in Amman, Jordan, and passed on the message that “Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction.” Among his political contacts was the late Rt Hon Robin Cook Britain’s former foreign secretary, the former International Development Secretary Rt Hon Clare Short, and senior MP’s including Tam Dalyell and Rt Hon Tony Benn.
El-Taher pleaded guilty, after fighting the SFO for over two and a half years because his lawyer told him he would receive a non-custodial sentence. This was not the case and he was sentenced to 10 months - reduced to eight months – in prison. He strongly believes that he was a political prisoner and that this prosecution was only vigorously enforced, due to his political activities in his campaigning for lifting sanctions on Iraq and the bringing of high-ranking Baathists, imprisoned without charge following the toppling of Saddam’s regime, to trial. He cooperated with the Chilcot Inquiry which investigated Britain’s role in the Iraq war during the period from the summer of 2001 to the end of July 2009, embracing the run up to the conflict in Iraq, the military action and its aftermath.
El-Taher feels he was used by both the British and Iraqi governments. “I was doing something good, something positive, passing on intelligence to establish dialogue. I was instrumental in setting up the first visit from the British War Graves Commission to Iraq and the Iraqis cooperated in preserving the grave of Gertrude Bell. Baroness Kennedy was about to start cultural links with Iraq and there was a chance to resurrect the offices of the British Council in Baghdad.”
Hans von Sponeck, head of the UN Oil-for-Food programme from 1998 to 2000, said: "Riad El-Taher was a concerned and committed person who spoke out on the injustices of international policy. If he broke the rules then he is accountable for his own actions. But he is a small fish."
Denis Halliday, a former head of the UN humanitarian programme in Iraq , said that the jailing of El-Taher showed continuing "double standards" over Iraq . "What is appalling is that the real culprits, those who cheated most on sanctions, are the big guys - governments, politicians and major companies in Australia, the US, India, France and Russia who paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam.”
Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith, who sentenced El-Taher at Southwark Crown Court seemed to acknowledge that many guilty people would never stand trial, saying: "It must seem to you to be unfair to be in the dock while many others are not." He concluded that his primary motive was financial gain and that he had made £86,000 from selling his oil allocations.
Mr Dalyell, the former Father of the Commons said: "At a time when the Justice Secretary wants to reduce the prison population it seems preposterous to be sending a 71-year-old man, who poses no threat to the public, to jail in such controversial circumstances.”
The prosecution and subsequent imprisonment of a 'small fish' in this ocean clearly illustrates the discrimination and unfairness of Britain’s legal system. In excess of £20 million have been spent bringing the prosecution to see El-Taher spend five months in prison, again at tax payers’ expense. He has appealed against his conviction. On 27th April 2011 he was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
He was ordered to pay £500,000 for confiscation of his assets which he allegedly acquired due to his involvement with the Oil-for-Food Programme and ordered to pay a further £70,000 towards his legal aid. Yet the court decided that he only benefitted by receiving £86,000 from the programme.
He decided to tell the story of this life to expose the illusion of democracy.

PRI: Public Radio International

Iraqi-American man jailed for sending money to family in Iraq decade ago

Karen Dabrowska