The Crimes of Uday Hussein: Inside the Sadistic World of Saddam’s Son

dthholland
May 4
9 min read

Collage of a man in various settings: uniform, holding rifles, clapping in a suit, and driving a silver car. Iraqi flag and text in background.

Few names evoke as much dread in modern Iraqi history as that of Uday Hussein. Born into privilege as the eldest son of Saddam Hussein, Uday could have led a life of diplomacy or governance. Instead, he chose a path of unchecked brutality, making even his father’s brutal regime appear, by comparison, coldly pragmatic rather than maniacally sadistic. For Iraqis, the name Uday came to symbolise more than corruption or power—it stood for sadism, violence, and terror.

So just how evil was Uday Hussein? The answer lies in a long and deeply disturbing list of crimes, many of them against defenceless victims. He was not merely a playboy prince with too much power—he was a violent, sadistic predator whose capacity for cruelty shocked even members of Saddam’s inner circle.

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The Playboy Turned Predator: Who Was Uday Hussein?

Born in 1964, Uday Saddam Hussein was educated in elite institutions both in Iraq and abroad. He officially held multiple powerful positions: head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, president of the Iraq Football Association, and senior figure in the Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary organisation. Behind these titles, however, was a man infamous for arbitrary violence, torture, rape, and murder.

Despite being groomed as his father’s successor, Uday’s erratic behaviour and viciousness made even Saddam wary. At one point, Saddam allegedly considered replacing Uday with his younger, more restrained son, Qusay. That moment may have marked a shift in Uday’s already unstable psyche, further fuelling a campaign of violence designed not only to assert control but to satisfy increasingly twisted personal urges.

Torturing Athletes for Losing

In 1984, after Uday graduated from university, Saddam appointed him chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and the Iraq Football Association. In the former role, he tortured athletes who failed to win. According to Latif Yahia, Uday's alleged body double, "The word that defines him is sadistic. I think Saddam Hussein was more human than Uday. The Olympic Committee was not a sports center, it was Uday's world".

Raed Ahmed, an Iraqi athlete who defected to the United States, said:

"During training, he would watch all the athletes closely, and put pressure on the coaches to push the athletes even more. If he was not happy with the results, he would have coaches and athletes put in his private prison in the Olympic Committee building. The punishment was Uday's private prison where they tortured people. Some athletes, including the best ones, started quitting the sport once Uday took over the Committee ... I always managed not to be punished. I made sure not to promise anything. There is a strong possibility of always being beaten. But when I won, Uday would be very happy."

In 2005, a video of Uday questioning Raed's family was released. They were then reportedly transported by car to a prison, where they remained for 16 days in poor conditions.

Ex-player and coach, Ammo Baba, whose football teams won 18 tournaments and participated in three Olympics, said that Uday's punishment destroyed players' athletic abilities. Baba said that half of the Iraqi athletes had left the country, and many had feigned illness before playing against strong competitors; he reportedly told his friends that if he died suddenly, they would know the reason.

Two men shake hands indoors. One wears a green jacket with "IRAQ" and a flag; the other wears a striped shirt. Several onlookers observe.

Maad Ibrahim Hamid, assistant coach of the national football team, said that Uday rewarded players financially for winning and threatened them with imprisonment if they lost. According to Hamid, athletes were not tortured; they were arrested for immoral behaviour, (including adultery and addiction to alcohol) and for playing poorly. One player, Ahmed Radhi said that after he was unwilling to join the new Al-Rasheed club, he was kidnapped at midnight by Uday's men, beaten and accused of harassment; he accepted Uday's offer when he was threatened with death.

International footballer Saad Qais said that Uday was angry with him because he was sent off during a 1997 match against Turkmenistan. His "discipline" was administered by jailers (known as "teachers") in a closed section of a detention facility for athletes and journalists in Radwaniyah Palace. According to Qais, "Uday established the Rashid team and forced the best Iraqi players to play in it, and forced me to leave my beloved team, and he honoured us with gifts after every win, but he also punished us after every loss."

Crimes Against Women: Rape, Abduction, and Murder

Perhaps the most horrifying aspect of Uday Hussein’s reign of terror was his treatment of women. Numerous reports from survivors, defectors, and investigations describe how Uday routinely abducted women off the streets of Baghdad, particularly targeting young schoolgirls and brides. His bodyguards would scout out women, often during wedding celebrations or in public places, and bring them to one of his many palatial residences.

A man and woman sit closely on a brown leather sofa, engaging in conversation. The man wears a black sweater with a red graphic.

Among Uday Hussein’s most disturbing crimes were those committed against women and girls, many of them teenagers, some younger. These were not isolated incidents, but a sustained campaign of sexual violence, coercion, and psychological abuse.

In 1987, Uday reportedly raped the 15-year-old daughter of his father’s mistress. Although Saddam briefly ordered him imprisoned, he was quickly released. When the girl refused to remain silent, Uday’s bodyguards tortured her with electric batons while he watched.

Man in patterned shirt offers microphone to woman in white top. They sit outdoors on a patio. Evening ambiance with dim lighting.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Uday maintained a lifestyle built around predation. Former classmates described how female university students would hide in bathrooms when he arrived on campus, knowing that he might select one of them for a “private meeting.” Zainab Salbi, daughter of Saddam’s private pilot, recalled how Uday’s presence caused visible panic among women, who were all too aware of his reputation.

Former staff confirmed that Uday’s guards regularly abducted women—some from the street, others from weddings or schools. These women were taken to private residences or to venues like the Baghdad Boat Club, where Uday hosted weekly parties. There, he would drink heavily, dance, and then choose who would be taken to his quarters. An ex-butler claimed he never slept with the same woman more than three times.

Those who resisted or showed hesitation were often humiliated or beaten. In one reported case, a bride was taken from her own wedding celebration and raped; she later died by suicide, and her husband was executed for “insulting the president.” Some victims were burned with cigarettes or even branded with a heated horseshoe to mark them with a U-shaped scar. Saddam’s family doctor later confirmed treating women for such injuries.

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As late as 2003, a 13-year-old girl alleged she was raped by Uday after being taken from the Jadriea Equestrian Club. She was given a small amount of money and told to keep quiet.

His alleged body double, Latif Yahia, claimed to have witnessed these crimes first-hand and recounted even darker incidents: the rape and murder of a deaf girl in Nineveh, the abduction of Miss Iraq (Ilham Ali al-Aazami), and the continued practice of forced branding of women. In several cases, Uday had his victims killed or spread rumours to destroy their reputations.

These accounts, drawn from ex-staff, victims, defectors, and memoirs, form part of the wider historical record of Iraq under Saddam—where even the most heinous personal crimes could go unpunished if committed by those close to power.

In October 1988, at a party in honour of Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Uday murdered his father's personal valet and food taster, Kamel Hana Gegeo, possibly at the request of his mother. Before an assemblage of horrified guests, an intoxicated Uday bludgeoned Gegeo and repeatedly stabbed him with an electric carving knife. Gegeo had recently introduced Saddam to a younger woman, Samira Shahbandar, who had become Saddam's second wife in 1986. Uday considered his father's relationship with Shahbandar an insult to his mother. Shahbandar's oldest son fled to Jordan because of the harassment by Uday after the marriage. Uday also may have feared losing succession to Gegeo, whose loyalty to Saddam Hussein was unquestioned.

As punishment for the murder, Saddam briefly imprisoned Uday. Once released, Uday was sent to Switzerland to act as the assistant to the Iraqi ambassador there. He was expelled by the Swiss government in 1990, after he was repeatedly arrested for fighting. Uday's vast car collection was burned by his father after the Gegeo incident.

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Arbitrary Violence and Murder

Beyond his structured roles, Uday often committed violence for sport. He was known to cruise Baghdad in luxury cars, armed with automatic weapons, shooting pedestrians or motorists for minor slights—if they honked at his convoy or didn’t move quickly enough.

One of the most notorious episodes involved Uday murdering an army officer simply because the man refused to let Uday dance with his wife at a party. According to accounts, Uday shot him on the spot, then assaulted the woman.

His cruelty extended even to staff and servants. Palace employees spoke of beatings and torture over small mistakes. Those who served in his inner circle described a climate of fear where even loyal followers were expendable.

The Use of Fedayeen Saddam and Secret Police

Uday was deeply involved in the operations of the Fedayeen Saddam, a paramilitary force that enforced Saddam’s will with extreme brutality. Although his brother Qusay held more formal control over Iraqi intelligence, Uday used the Fedayeen and his own secret police to carry out abductions, assassinations, and intimidation campaigns.

These units were implicated in mass executions and in the suppression of uprisings in the south and north of Iraq. Uday is believed to have had a hand in orchestrating several purges within the Ba’ath Party ranks, eliminating perceived rivals or threats.

An Obsession with Sadism: The Personal Archives

After the fall of Baghdad in 2003, American soldiers discovered Uday’s private archives, which included thousands of video recordings of parties, tortures, and sexual assaults. These archives confirmed what many Iraqis had long whispered about: that Uday not only committed these acts but enjoyed watching them repeatedly.

His homes were filled with luxury items, fast cars, and weapons—testaments to his wealth and power—but also to his warped mind. In one of his villas, investigators found a fully equipped torture chamber.

His Death: The End of a Reign of Terror

In July 2003, during the Iraq War, Uday Hussein and his brother Qusay were located in Mosul after Saddam’s former aide Abid Hamid Mahmud revealed that the pair had unsuccessfully attempted to flee to Syria. They were eventually sheltered by Nawaf al-Zaidan, who, lured by the $30 million bounty, informed U.S. forces of their location.

On 22 July 2003, U.S. Special Operations Task Force 20, supported by the 101st Airborne Division, surrounded a villa in Mosul. When Uday, Qusay, and Qusay’s 14-year-old son Mustafa refused to surrender, a fierce gunfight erupted. The siege lasted nearly five hours, during which heavy weapons, including TOW missiles, were used to overcome resistance. All three, along with a bodyguard, were killed in the confrontation.

Uday and Qusay had reportedly armed themselves with AK-47s and grenades, resisting multiple entry attempts by American troops. Mustafa, the last to die, continued firing even after his father and uncle had fallen. Four U.S. soldiers were wounded in the battle.

Saddam Hussein, in a later audio message, praised his sons for their “martyrdom,” framing their deaths as part of a holy struggle. Interrogation records later revealed that Saddam showed no remorse but claimed pride in their deaths, though he grew visibly irritated when pressed about Uday’s crimes.

Following the battle, the U.S. released graphic photographs of their bodies to confirm their identities. Uday’s distinctive injuries, including a metal rod in his leg from a 1996 assassination attempt, helped verify the remains. Both men had altered their appearances in an attempt to avoid detection, with Uday shaving his head and growing a beard.

I'm sorry, I can't assist with that. — Uday Hussein's corpse photographed after the US military onslaught

Speculation surrounded how Uday and Qusay were discovered. While Nawaf al-Zaidan received credit for tipping off U.S. forces, some reports claimed that Uday’s mobile phone use had been tracked by the CIA. Shortly after the raid, Nawaf’s brother was murdered, and Nawaf reportedly fled Iraq.

In Uday’s possession at the time were around $100 million in cash, along with personal items consisted of Viagra, numerous bottles of cologne, unopened packages of men's underwear, dress shirts, a silk tie and a single condom

Uday was buried in his hometown of Al-Awja, near Tikrit, alongside Qusay and Qusay’s son Mustafa. In 2017, a claim by Uday’s son Massoud suggested that Iran had stolen his father’s body, though no evidence has ever supported this.

A mannequin head with painted facial features, a beard, and closed eyes on a blue and white fabric background. Seems serene.

How Evil Was Uday Hussein?

Evil is a word often overused, but in Uday Hussein’s case, it fits with chilling precision. He was not a product of political necessity or cultural circumstance. His was a personal, self-directed campaign of violence driven by sadism, entitlement, and impunity. From raping and murdering schoolgirls to torturing football players, to shooting men for minor slights, Uday was a man who found pleasure in human suffering.

Though the world remembers Saddam Hussein as a dictator who ruled Iraq with an iron fist, Uday stands out as something arguably more terrifying—a man with power, wealth, and absolute immunity, who used every one of those advantages to commit some of the most heinous acts imaginable.

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