Chicago Tribune
Oak Brook engineer fears Iraq prison time
Ex-electricity minister: `I will certainly be killed'
By Aamer Madhani, Tribune staff reporter. Freelance
reporter Joseph Ruzich in Chicago, and Nadeem Majeed in Baghdad
contributed to this report
October 15, 2006
BAGHDAD -- A Chicago-area
resident who left his suburban life and a successful business to join
other Iraqi exiles in rebuilding Iraq has been convicted of corruption
in Baghdad and now could spend two years in an Iraqi prison.
Aiham Alsammarae, an Oak Brook engineer who was electricity minister
under the interim Iraqi government after the fall of Saddam Hussein,
told the Tribune that he fears his life will be in danger if he is
transferred to an Iraqi prison, as planned. As a secular Sunni, he
believes he will be targeted by the country's notoriously corrupt
Shiite security forces.
He is now being held in an Iraqi police
station inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, where he said
U.S. advisers working with the Iraqi police are checking on him to
ensure his safety. "If they move me to the red zone [anywhere outside
the Green Zone], I will certainly be killed," Alsammarae, 55, said in a
telephone interview from the station.
Alsammarae, who became a
lightning rod for the country's inability to solve its dire problems
with power generation, was found guilty and sentenced Wednesday during
a short hearing, officials said. He is among several officials from the
interim Iraqi government who have been accused by the country's Public
Integrity Commission of negligence in squandering and stealing billions
of dollars.
He and his family maintain his innocence and have
appealed to the U.S. Embassy for help. Lou Fintor, a spokesman for the
embassy, said he could not comment extensively about the case, citing
privacy rules.
"They are trying to drive out all the seculars,"
Alsammarae said, referring to current Iraqi government officials.
"There are no real politicians anymore. It's just the imams."
Alsammarae, who holds dual Iraqi-American citizenship, moved to Chicago
in 1976 with his wife, Amira, to study for advanced degrees at the
Illinois Institute of Technology. They planned to return to Iraq after
completing their degrees but they became exiles after Hussein seized
control in 1979.
They settled in Oak Brook, and Alsammarae ran
an engineering firm in Downers Grove. He became an avid White Sox fan
and planted roots in the community. But while Alsammarae settled into
his adopted country, he said, he never lost sight of his dream of one
day returning to Iraq.
In the lead-up to the 2003 invasion that
toppled Hussein, Alsammarae worked with other exiles in advising the
U.S. government, hoping to become a major player in the new Iraqi
government.
Alsammarae was awarded the position of electricity
minister in the interim government led by Ayad Allawi, a U.S. favorite.
He hoped to use his expertise to rebuild the country's crumbling
infrastructure. But the ministry was slowed by daily insurgent attacks
on the power grid, and Alsammarae's ambitions foundered.
He
later claimed to have connections to the Mujahedeen Army and the
Islamic Army in Iraq, two Sunni insurgent groups that he said were
ready to come to the table to negotiate an end to the violence. But the
groups posted statements on the Internet denouncing Alsammarae and
stating that he did not speak for them.
Alsammarae ran
unsuccessfully for a seat in the council of representatives in last
December's election to form Iraq's first permanent government. Still,
he continued to float between Chicago and Baghdad, hoping to find a
place in the government and renewing contacts.
Details sketchy
The particulars of the corruption case against him are sketchy. A
spokesman for the integrity commission provided scant details.
But Alsammarae said Friday that his conviction centers on a $200,000
payment for an electric generator in southern Maysan province.
The payment, according to Alsammarae, was made to the owner of a
generator commandeered by coalition forces at the beginning of the war
to provide power for some government buildings. A year later the owner
of the generator demanded compensation, and Alsammarae and his deputies
agreed to make the payment, he said.
The Iraqi government
contends that public money was negligently wasted and has filed six
other corruption charges against Alsammarae.
Alsammarae's
ordeal started in late August, when he learned through a news broadcast
on an Arab satellite network that the integrity commission had charged
him and several other former Iraqi officials with corruption and
related offenses.
He was in Jordan at the time and decided to
return immediately to Baghdad to fight the charges. The commission held
him in custody to await trial after his arrival.
His son, Ramy
Alsammarae, 25, acknowledged that his father's decision to come back to
Iraq was risky. But he said his father believed that he still had many
allies in the government and that it was important he clear his name.
"My mother and my sisters and I told him not to go back," said his son,
speaking from the Chicago suburbs, "but he is our father, and when he
has his mind set on something he usually does it."
The thought
of turning his back on Iraq after charges were levied against
him--particularly after all those years in opposition--was unacceptable
to him, family members said.
"He couldn't let his name be
smeared," his daughter, Dania, said from Dublin, where she is attending
medical school. "He believes there is a place in Iraq for a person like
him, a moderate, well-educated man in this government."
Appealed to embassy
Since his conviction, family members have been searching for a way to
get him out of the Iraqi government's custody. Alsammarae said he has
appealed to the U.S. Embassy's legal department for help, but he was
turned away.
His daughter went to the U.S. Embassy in Dublin on
Friday looking for help but was told that since he was convicted, there
was little that could be done. The families have also reached out to
the offices of Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, all in hopes of
keeping him out of a prison run by the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
The Shiite-dominated ministry has a notorious reputation, and serious
charges of extortion, torture and murder have been lodged against the
security forces. Earlier this month, a police brigade was taken off the
streets after some members were suspected of taking part in the
kidnapping of more than 20 workers at a Baghdad meat-processing plant.
Seven workers were later found executed.
As he sat in the
police station Friday, Alsammarae said that his only hope now is for
the U.S. government to intervene on his behalf. Even if U.S. officials
wanted to get involved, any act on Alsammarae's behalf could be seen as
heavy-handed interference in a sovereign country.
"I am an
American citizen who came here to work side-by-side with the Americans
to help rebuild this country," Alsammarae said. "As a citizen of the
United States, I would think my country would have an obligation to try
to help me."