Saddam Hussein’s ‘former weapons chief’ now has taxpayer-funded research job at key physics lab
Saddam Hussein’s alleged former weapons chief has been recruited as a scientist at one of Britain’s most important research facilities.
Physicist Dr Saleh Al-Atabi was a commander of the Iraqi dictator’s Ba’ath Party and a “supervisor” at an arms factory, Supreme Court documents show.
The party was described in a report by the UN Commission on Human Rights and the UN General Assembly as an “all-pervasive order of repression and oppression… supported by widespread discrimination and… terror.”
The Iraqi Military Industrialization Committee, where Dr. Al-Atabi worked for eleven years, making chemical weapons before the regime fell.
The scientist – who fled to Britain in 2006 – now works for Diamond Light Source, based in Didcot, Oxfordshire. It is funded by the government and Wellcome Trust and conducts experiments using intense beams of light.
The 57-year-old joined the institute in May as a “beamline scientist,” according to his social media. He was previously a scientist at Imperial College London.
Dr. Al-Atabi fled here with his wife and two children three years after the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam.
He applied for asylum and claimed he would be killed if sent to Iraq because of his involvement with the Ba’ath Party. The application was rejected by the Ministry of the Interior, but he was granted a permanent residence permit on appeal in 2013. His bid for British citizenship was opposed by two Tory home secretaries.
Physicist Dr. Saleh Al-Atabi was commander of the Iraqi dictator’s Ba’ath Party and “supervisor” at an arms factory, according to Supreme Court documents
Dr. Al-Atabi fled here with his wife and two children three years after the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam
Amber Rudd denied him citizenship in 2017 because of his “association with… organizations that regularly committed international crimes.”
In 2020, Priti Patel also had an appeal rejected, but he still has indefinite leave to remain.
Dr. Al-Atabi, who recently lived in a £400,000 flat in Maida Vale, west London, applied for a judicial review of the decision at the High Court.
A report to the court by security analyst Dr Alison Pargeter of the University of Cambridge said: ‘As a committed Ba’athist, Dr Al-Atabi would undoubtedly have been aware of the actions and gross human rights violations committed by Saddam Hussein’s regime. .’
In his 2006 asylum application, the Iraqi said he was involved in the manufacture of “bullets, explosives, small guns, AK-47s.” But as he fought the decision to deny him British citizenship, he said he was not involved at all but had worked in a plastics factory.
In November 2021, the Supreme Court rejected Dr. Al-Atabi’s bid for a judicial review of the Interior Ministry’s decision.
A spokesperson for Diamond Light Source confirmed his role, adding: ‘Diamond has completed all required pre-employment and sanctions checks and Dr. Al-Atabi was given permission to have the right to work in Britain.”
Dr. Al-Atabi could not be reached for comment.