Samira Shahbandar

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Samira Shahbandar was allegedly Saddam Hussein's second wife. She is supposedly the mother of his third son, Ali, though members of Saddam's family claim that Ali is actually his grandson.

She was introduced to Saddam by one of his favorite servants, Kemal Hana Gegeo. She became Saddam's mistress. She is described as tall, blond, and from a merchant family from Baghdad. Saddam may have secretly married Samira while married to Sajida Talfah, his first wife. Sajida was jealous and humiliated. Sajida's brother Adnan Khayrallah complained about Saddam's mistress. Adnan was killed in a helicopter crash, caused by "mechanical failure." Saddam's bodyguard said that Saddam told him to place a bomb on the helicopter.

Uday Hussein, son of Saddam and Sajida, was also angry over his father's mistress. Uday believed that his inheritance was endangered by the mistress. He took it as an insult to his mother. In October 1988, at a party thrown in the honor of Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Uday beat and stabbed Gegeo to death, bludgeoning Gegeo repeatedly in front of horrified guests. Saddam declared that Uday would go to trial for murder. The parents of Gegeo begged that Uday be pardoned. Uday was pardoned and banished temporarily to Switzerland. ^[1]

It is believed that Saddam’s location was discovered by Mossad agents who intercepted phone calls between Saddam and Samira. ^[2] The Saudi daily Okaz theorized that Samira Al-Shahbandar may have been the source of information that led to Saddam's capture during Operation Red Dawn. "It is possible," writes Okaz, that "for delivering the head of her husband she will receive the award of $25 million," offered by the U.S. for information leading to Saddam's arrest or killing.

Samira lives in Beirut.