A GLASGOW-BASED academic once dubbed Saddam Hussein’s nemesis is in the running to become the next president of war-torn Iraq.
Professor Kamal Ketuly, who spent years campaigning against the brutal dictator, is so far the only registered candidate ahead of a scheduled vote next month.
The 64-year-old was a postgraduate student at Glasgow University when his family was torn apart just months after Hussein came to power in 1979.
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They were among countless Iraqi citizens deported to Iran, while his older brother Jamal was held hostage with 11 of his cousins and sent to the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. He was last seen in 1984.
Over the years that followed, Mr Ketuly collected crucial evidence of the atrocities committed by the dictator, adding to the charges which eventually led to Hussein’s execution in 2006.
He also helped journalists – including from The Herald – enter Iraq to report on the violence and upheaval there.
His presidential bid comes amid the continuing fallout from May’s parliamentary elections, which were marred by allegations of widespread fraud.
Mr Ketuly hopes his position as an outside, independent candidate will garner support from Iraq’s divided politicians and parties, as well as demonstrators calling for change.
He said: “So far, I am the only registered candidate. If I win the presidency, I want to bring together all of the divergent ethnic and religious groups and political factions to develop Iraq socially, scientifically and economically, in order to see the country flourish.
“Iraq has struggled for too long and the time has come to restore peace, stability and unity for the benefit of the nation’s 37 million citizens.”
He added: “We want to get the image of Iraq cleaned and let people see the real Iraq, building relationships with outside powers and opening up Iraq to the world.”
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Mr Ketuly splits his time between Glasgow’s Ruchill area and Iraq, where he lectures at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Duhok.
He worked at Glasgow University until the early 1990s, and sought asylum in the city when his family was deported and their possessions seized.
An Iraqi Kurd born in Baghdad, he has already been in contact with the country’s Kurdish parties, which are split into two different factions and have yet to put forward any candidate.
The academic said he will push for “peace and stability” if his bid is successful, while attempting to reverse the destruction caused by decades of war and upheaval.
As well as mass rebuilding, he wants to secure better environmental protection and improve the use of water and energy resources – including by constructing solar panel fields in the deserts of western Iraq.
While estimating he has a slim chance of success, Mr Ketuly added: “When the new Iraqi parliament starts, we have a petition for the new MPs to see what kind of support they would give somebody like me. I will go and speak to the various MPs in the Iraqi parliament to see how they will feel.”
Iraq's elections earlier this year were won by an alliance led by Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shia cleric who previously came to prominence after leading violent uprisings against US troops.
- READ MORE: US reimposes sanctions on Iran
Mr Ketuly's bid comes after Hassan Rouhani, who was a postgraduate student at Glasgow Caledonian University in the 1990s, was elected president of neighbouring Iran in 2013.
Mr Rouhani, who even included Glasgow Caledonian in his election campaign video, recently hit the news after invoking the ire of US President Donald Trump when he warned: "America should know peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”
Yesterday, the UK and EU partners said they would move to block Mr Trump’s decision to re-impose sanctions on Iran in order to preserve peace.
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