On the evening of October 18, 1988, Baghdad was in a celebratory mood. The long and brutal war with Iran had ended that August, and the Iraqi government was hosting a grand reception in honor of Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The hall was filled with government officials, security officers, and foreign guests. Saddam Hussein himself was present.

Another man in the room was Kamel Hana Jajo. He had worked for Saddam for years as a personal assistant and food taster, a role that placed him among the few trusted to remain physically close to the president. Several accounts also held that he had helped arrange aspects of Saddam’s private life, including his relationship with a woman named Samira Shahbandar. That affair had deeply humiliated Saddam’s wife, Sajida—and her son, Uday, never forgave Jajo for his part in it.

That night, Uday approached Jajo, attacked him with a club, and then stabbed him. Jajo died in front of the guests. The wife of a foreign head of state had just watched the president’s son kill a man during a major official occasion. Saddam was furious.

News soon spread that Uday had been arrested and sentenced to death. But the sentence was never carried out. Saddam could not bring himself to execute his own son, yet he could not simply ignore the murder either. Instead, Uday’s punishment took the form of a forced leave of absence.

He was sent to Switzerland, where his uncle Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother, served as Iraq’s representative in Geneva. Uday continued to live in luxury in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and he was reportedly involved in several disturbances while there. By 1989, the Swiss authorities had expelled him. His return to Baghdad brought him back to a country devastated by years of war.

Iraq was drowning in debt, owing billions of dollars to other nations. Saddam needed people he believed he could trust to help keep the government under control, and family members seemed less likely to turn against him than outsiders. Uday was given control of several media outlets, including the newspaper Babel and a youth-oriented television channel. He also became head of the Iraqi Journalists Union.

Iraq had no free press, and reporters could not criticize the government or its leaders. Now a man already involved in a killing had the power to influence what journalists could write. A single sentence that offended Uday could end a reporter’s career—or lead to far worse consequences. Being the son of Saddam Hussein had always meant living under a kind of protection almost no one else in Iraq enjoyed.

Born in Baghdad on June 18, 1964, Uday was the eldest son of Saddam and his first wife and cousin, Sajida Talfah. His younger brother Qusay was born in 1966, followed by three sisters, Raghad, Rana, and Hala. When Uday was four, the Baath Party seized power in a coup in July 1968, and Saddam quickly became one of the most powerful men in the new government. He waited eleven years before taking the presidency for himself.

On July 16, 1979, he ousted President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and became president of Iraq. Within days, Saddam called senior Baath Party members to a meeting. During that meeting, the names of several people were read out, and around twenty-two men were led away and later executed after being accused of conspiring against him. Uday was fifteen years old when he witnessed this.

He saw what could happen when there were almost no limits to his father’s power. That lesson shaped his teenage years. Teachers who might have failed him did not. Fellow students who might have challenged him chose instead to stay out of his way.

Adults who would normally correct a teenager’s behavior remained silent, because opposing Uday meant opposing the president’s son, which could cost them their jobs or even their freedom. Uday eventually earned an engineering degree from Baghdad University with very high marks, though few believed those grades reflected his true abilities. His younger brother Qusay was completely different—quiet, cautious, and patient. Saddam slowly began giving him important positions in Iraq’s security apparatus.

Uday, meanwhile, received titles that brought attention, luxury cars, and access to parties and dignitaries. In 1984, when he was only twenty, Uday was appointed head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, the organization responsible for the country’s Olympic sports. He later also took control of the Iraqi Football Association. Thousands of young athletes now fell under the authority of a man who had spent his entire life protected from the usual consequences of his actions.

Then came August 2, 1990, when Iraq invaded its small, oil-rich neighbor Kuwait. Iraqi forces quickly took control of most of the country and remained there for about seven months. During the occupation, Iraqi soldiers and officials seized large amounts of property and goods from Kuwait. Later accounts from Kuwaiti officials and journalists reported that Uday was among those who took luxury cars from the country.

His private garages were said to hold hundreds of vehicles, including Rolls-Royces, Ferraris, and Porsches. The invasion proved expensive for ordinary Iraqis. On August 6, 1990, the United Nations imposed strict economic sanctions on Iraq, severely limiting its ability to trade with other nations and buy goods from abroad. Food and medicine became harder to obtain, and many families struggled to survive.

Some sold their furniture, jewelry, and other possessions just to pay for basic necessities. A US-led coalition forced Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in early 1991, but the sanctions remained for more than a decade. Uday turned the shortage of resources into a business opportunity. He ran smuggling networks that moved cigarettes, alcohol, and other goods across Iraq’s borders, allowing him and his associates to profit from products that were hard to obtain legally.

He was also said to have seized shares in many private companies. Later, when Iraq was permitted to sell limited amounts of oil through the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food Programme, which began in 1996 to help Iraqis obtain food and essentials, Uday’s associates were accused of embezzling part of the system. While Iraq’s middle class grew poorer and ordinary families struggled to get by, Uday continued to grow wealthier. By that time, he had money, control over parts of the media, and a personal staff that answered only to him.

But what he did with the Olympic Committee showed how far his power could reach. Throughout the 1990s, Uday ran the committee’s headquarters in Baghdad almost like a private prison. When the Iraqi national football team lost a match, he did not merely blame the coach or the team’s tactics—he blamed the players themselves. Former athletes who managed to escape Iraq described being beaten, locked in cells, and humiliated for missing goals, performing poorly, or failing to show the level of effort Uday expected.

Their stories were strikingly similar. Players described being lashed on the soles of their feet until they could barely stand or walk. Some were forced to kick heavy concrete balls, which could break toes and leave their legs badly bruised. Others were locked in small cells with very little food.

Some athletes described being dragged through raw sewage after their wounds were opened, exposing them to serious infection. Uday also ordered some players’ heads shaved as a form of public humiliation. Those who complained or refused to comply were threatened with being sent to the front lines, where Iraqi soldiers faced danger and death. Sharar Haider, a striker who played for the Iraqi national football team, was one of the athletes who later spoke publicly about these abuses.

Weightlifters, runners, and football players told similar stories. The most disturbing part was how long much of the outside world remained silent. Rumors of mistreatment reached international sports organizations for years, and human rights groups raised concerns as well. But Iraq continued to send athletes to international competitions, and foreign officials kept meeting Iraqi representatives as if nothing was wrong.

Athletes allowed to travel abroad often stayed silent because their families still lived in Baghdad. Speaking openly could put those families at risk. Investigating the full extent of these abuses became much easier after 2003, when Saddam’s government was overthrown. Investigators and journalists were able to enter places previously controlled by the regime and speak more freely with former prisoners and athletes.

Their accounts helped confirm what many had feared for years. While Uday was using his position to terrorize athletes, serious cracks were appearing within his family by 1995. Hussein Kamel al-Majid was Saddam’s cousin and also his son-in-law, having married Uday’s sister Raghad. He controlled Iraq’s military industries and weapons programs, giving him access to some of the country’s most important military secrets.

His position also made him a powerful figure within Saddam’s government. Uday and Kamel were bitter rivals, and their struggle for influence within the regime grew increasingly hostile. In August 1995, Kamel stunned the Iraqi government by fleeing to Jordan with his brother Saddam Kamel. Raghad and her sister Rana, who was married to Saddam Kamel, joined them.

Kamel then spoke with Western intelligence agencies, revealing information about Iraq’s weapons programs and the inner workings of Saddam’s government. His defection was a major embarrassment for Saddam, since one of the men closest to his family had suddenly left the country and begun sharing important information with foreign governments. Saddam eventually promised Kamel a pardon if he returned. Kamel believed the promise and came back to Iraq in February 1996.

No more than three days passed before he was killed. On February 23, relatives from Saddam’s clan attacked the house where Kamel and his brother were staying. A gun battle broke out, and both brothers were killed. It was widely believed that Uday supported the anger against Hussein Kamel, although the final decision to deal with him came from Saddam.

Around the same time, Uday was building a force of his own. In 1995, Saddam created a paramilitary organization called the Fedayeen Saddam and placed Uday at its head. The group was separate from Iraq’s regular army and was created mainly to protect Saddam’s rule and intimidate people inside the country. Later reports estimated its numbers grew to between thirty and forty thousand members.

They wore black uniforms, answered directly to Uday, and became another instrument for spreading fear among ordinary Iraqis. By this point, Uday had built a network of money, influence, and people who answered to him. But someone inside Saddam’s circle finally decided things had gone too far. On December 12, 1996, Uday was driving through the Mansour district of Baghdad, a wealthy area known for its restaurants, shops, and luxurious homes.

For some reason, he was traveling with less protection than usual. Gunmen were waiting for him. They opened fire on his car. Reports indicate Uday was hit by seventeen bullets.

He was rushed to the hospital, where surgeons worked for hours to keep him alive. He survived the attack, but he was seriously wounded, and the injury stayed with him for the rest of his life. One of the bullets caused damage near his spine, leaving him with difficulty walking. He often needed a cane or another person to help him move.

Accounts from defectors and doctors said he lived in constant pain and spent months recovering out of sight. Some reports suggested he was partially paralyzed for a time. No one ever proved who was behind the attack. The Iraqi government blamed an opposition group backed by Iran, while others suspected the attack came from someone within Saddam’s own regime.

In the weeks that followed, Saddam’s security forces carried out mass arrests. Many of the people later executed were certainly not involved in the shooting. People who knew Uday later said the attack made him angrier and more violent. He trusted almost no one.

His injuries also seemed to make him more determined to show he was still strong, and he became quicker to attack or punish people who annoyed him or made him feel challenged. The attack also shifted the balance of power within Saddam’s family. Saddam was already leaning toward Qusay as a safer choice to take on more responsibility. Uday’s health problems and increasingly violent behavior only reinforced that view.

Qusay was given control of the Republican Guard, the elite military units that protected the regime, and later received a senior position in the Baath Party leadership. But Uday kept control of his militia and his newspapers, and he was about to use that power again. In 2000, he returned to public life and ran for a seat in the Iraqi parliament, winning by a landslide. This surprised few, since elections in Saddam’s Iraq were tightly controlled by the government, leaving voters with limited real choices.

The parliamentary seat gave Uday another official position, but his real power still came from the Fedayeen Saddam. That same year, Amnesty International and other human rights organizations reported that Fedayeen members had beheaded more than one hundred women in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. The women were accused of prostitution, but many of the accusations appeared false or politically motivated. Some women were reportedly targeted for being relatives of opposition figures or for having angered someone influential.

In some cases, the killings were carried out in front of the victims’ neighbors or family members, making the violence even more terrifying. Defectors and former employees also described a broader pattern of abuse against women. They said Uday’s men sometimes seized women from crowds, universities, or parties and took them to properties controlled by Uday. Their families usually lacked the power to resist, and complaining could lead to beatings, imprisonment, or loss of employment.

Most of these accounts came from defectors and later interviews rather than court records, so the exact number of victims may never be known. People who worked near Uday also lived in constant fear. Bodyguards, drivers, servants, and other employees knew that a single bad moment or wrong answer could turn into a beating. By 2002, attention had shifted away from Uday’s personal violence toward a much larger threat.

The United States was preparing for war with Saddam’s government, and the regime that had protected Uday for most of his life was about to face its greatest crisis. On March 20, 2003, a US-led coalition invaded Iraq. The main reason given by the American government was the belief that Saddam’s regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found after the invasion.

Coalition forces moved quickly toward Baghdad, and on April 9, American troops reached the center of the capital. Saddam, Uday, Qusay, and many senior officials vanished from sight. The US military also created a set of playing cards bearing the faces of the most wanted Iraqi officials. Saddam was the ace of spades, while Uday and Qusay were also among the highest-priority targets.

The search for the brothers continued. For several months, Uday and Qusay moved between safe houses, relying on old friends and people still connected to the Saddam family. By early summer, the brothers had moved north toward Mosul, one of the largest cities in northern Iraq. In the summer of 2003, the city was crowded and tense.

Coalition forces were deployed throughout it, but some residents still had strong ties to the old government. To Uday and Qusay, Mosul seemed like a place where they could disappear. The brothers found a hiding place in a large villa in the Falah district. The house belonged to a wealthy man named Nawaf al-Zaidan, a family friend with long-standing connections to Saddam’s inner circle.

He agreed to shelter Uday and Qusay, along with Qusay’s fourteen-year-old son Mustafa and one bodyguard. The four men stayed inside the villa for about two weeks. But the United States had posted enormous rewards for members of the Saddam family. Fifteen million dollars was offered for information leading to the capture of each son, while twenty-five million was offered for information about Saddam himself.

For a man like al-Zaidan, that was more money than he might expect to earn in several lifetimes. It also offered a possible way out of the danger that came with sheltering two of the most wanted men in Iraq. On July 22, 2003, American forces received information about the brothers’ location and surrounded the villa. Around two hundred soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division took part in the operation, along with special operations forces.

As American soldiers approached the house, gunfire erupted from inside. Several American soldiers were wounded. The battle lasted about six hours. When the American soldiers entered the damaged house, they found four bodies: Uday, Qusay, Mustafa, and the bodyguard.

People across Mosul heard the gunfire, and by the end of the day, news of the deaths of Saddam Hussein’s sons had spread. The Americans knew many Iraqis would not believe the brothers were dead without clear evidence, so they used dental records and other identification methods to confirm the identities. On July 24, officials released photographs of the bodies. For many Iraqis, the news brought relief.

Families who had lost sons in the cells of the Olympic Committee, or daughters to Fedayeen violence, now knew Uday would never hurt anyone again. The brothers were buried in early August 2003 in al-Awja, a village near Tikrit where their father had grown up.