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Iraqi agent murder: man released

TT/The Local
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Iraqi agent murder: man released

A man arrested in Stockholm in November on suspicion of involvement in the 1985 murder of an Iraqi defector has been released. Prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand said on Wednesday that the investigation into the man would most likely be dropped.

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"Unless something pretty sensational comes to light then I will drop [the investigation]," Lindstrand told Sveriges Radio.

"It has not developed in such a way that I can envisage a prosecution," he said.

The man, 53, was arrested on 23rd November on suspicion of being an accessory to the murder of Majid Hussein, who is believed to have been killed in a Stockhollm hotel room in January 1985.

The murder is believed to have been carried out on the orders of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime. Majid Hussein's body was found in March 1985 in Grödinge, near Södertälje, south of Stockholm. It had been chopped into 48 pieces and stuffed into two suitcases.

Prosecutors have two years left to bring charges relating to the killing. Under the country's statute of limitations, charges must be brought within 25 years of the crime being committed. Tomas Lindstrand said he was pessimistic over the chances of a successful prosecution.

"There is reason to believe that none of the others involved in the murder are in Sweden or are somehow reachable by other means," he said.

Lindstrand last year issued an appeal for information about a woman believed to have acted as a temptress in attracting Hussein to the room where he was killed. The woman, known only by her false name, Jamila al-Shafej, disappeared from Sweden shortly after the murder and has not been traced.

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