Brig-Gen Sa'ud Khalil al-Hindi, an officer in the Iraqi...

Brig-Gen Sa'ud Khalil al-Hindi, an officer in the Iraqi Army and member of the well-known Al-bu-Hindi Family in the city of Jalula in the Diyala Governorate, was executed on charges of "conspiracy against the state security and life of Iraqi President Saddam Husayn". The Iraqi authorities executed him after the intelligence agency erred in its interpretation of a word he uttered during a telephone conversation between him and a bird merchant in the United Arab Emirates. The bird merchant asked the officer whether he could hunt "a white eagle" and sell it to him. The Brig-Gen specialises in hunting rare birds but officials in the regime interpreted the white eagle to be Saddam Husayn.