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In 1987, Latif Yahia was taken to Saddam's headquarters to meet Uday, Saddam's eldest son, and told that a great honour had been bestowed upon him: that because of the great likeness between them, he had been chosen to be Uday's double. For many Iraqis it would have been the highlight of their lives, but for Latif, a peace-loving man who did not agree with Saddam's brutal regime, it was not. He refused. Following a week of torture, and realising he would be killed if he continued to refuse, Latif was forced to accept the role. After a gruesome training programme during which he was made to watch over thirty films of torture, hours of tapes of Uday, and undertake a final remodelling of his appearance, Latif wasdeemed ready. But it was only after the final test, a meeting with Saddam himself, that Latif made his first public appearance. And so began his life as Uday's double - a life on the perimeter of the inner circle of Saddam's eldest son, a witness to the horror of his insane life of debauchery, excess and brutality, and an experience for which he almost paid with his life on more than one occasion.
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The Black Hole has been banned in Ireland and USA Book Shops..
is the next chapter in the extraordinary and chilling life story of author Latif Yahia. Having escaped the brutal Iraqi regime through Northern Iraq with the help of the CIA in 1992, Latif touched down in Austria. Having family in the pristine and picturesque city of Vienna, Latif is somewhat reassured that his life will be calmer now without Uday Saddam Hussein and his hedonistically violent lifestyle. Alongside Latif is Nusa, a hired girl, a plaything and ego boost for her Baghdadi clientele, although she has never been mentioned in Latif's past works the reasons for her concealment become apparent as the story unfolds. Unfortunately life was never to become the idyll that Latif desired, his knowledge or perceived knowledge of the inner Iraqi regime was to become his saviour and his tormentor. This, left him chained and unable to move forward, as much as he wished to forget, his handlers wanted to know more. Latif became almost a prized item in the world of International Intelligence with nearly all of the world's Intelligence agencies vying for his allegiance, his pleas for neutrality and normality unheard. Ultimately Latif was to pay the price for his uncooperative stance; ten and a half months were spent in a covert Austrian/CIA prison cell in solitary confinement, until by chance his freedom was assured by a visiting judge. One would think that after such events Latif's life may take a quieter turn, this was not to be the case, the game of cat and mouse that played out across the breadth of Europe was interspersed by the tragic death of Latif's beloved father, several assassination attempts and the murder of his first real love a Saudi Arabian Princess Latif Yahia's previous books have sold over one million copies worldwide in twenty languages.
is the next chapter in the extraordinary and chilling life story of author Latif Yahia. Having escaped the brutal Iraqi regime through Northern Iraq with the help of the CIA in 1992, Latif touched down in Austria. Having family in the pristine and picturesque city of Vienna, Latif is somewhat reassured that his life will be calmer now without Uday Saddam Hussein and his hedonistically violent lifestyle. Alongside Latif is Nusa, a hired girl, a plaything and ego boost for her Baghdadi clientele, although she has never been mentioned in Latif's past works the reasons for her concealment become apparent as the story unfolds. Unfortunately life was never to become the idyll that Latif desired, his knowledge or perceived knowledge of the inner Iraqi regime was to become his saviour and his tormentor. This, left him chained and unable to move forward, as much as he wished to forget, his handlers wanted to know more. Latif became almost a prized item in the world of International Intelligence with nearly all of the world's Intelligence agencies vying for his allegiance, his pleas for neutrality and normality unheard. Ultimately Latif was to pay the price for his uncooperative stance; ten and a half months were spent in a covert Austrian/CIA prison cell in solitary confinement, until by chance his freedom was assured by a visiting judge. One would think that after such events Latif's life may take a quieter turn, this was not to be the case, the game of cat and mouse that played out across the breadth of Europe was interspersed by the tragic death of Latif's beloved father, several assassination attempts and the murder of his first real love a Saudi Arabian Princess Latif Yahia's previous books have sold over one million copies worldwide in twenty languages.
Buy Your Copy Now from AMG.
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The true story of the man who became the hangman for the most notorious prison in the world. Built originally in the early part of the 20th century, Abu Ghraib stood outside Baghdad as the general prison for the local population, it housed the petty thief and the rapist, the murderer and the politician. When Saddam Hussein took hold of Iraq he needed someone to help him in his bid to cleanse Iraq of it's detritus, he needed someone to be his hangman. He found that man inside the walls of Abu Ghraib.
After the fall of Saddam in 2003 his employment continued with a new master and new duties, the CIA now gave him orders and his talents as a hangman were second only to his talents as a torturer. When the world's eyes focused on Abu Ghraib and the atrocities committed there he found his means of escape, only then, could his story be told.
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