http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/202073,iraqi010807.articleDUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A former Iraqi Cabinet minister who escaped from a Baghdad prison last month defended his jailbreak and said here Monday he was planning to return to his home in Illinois.
Ayham al-Samaraie, Iraq's former minister of electricity who holds U.S. and Iraqi citizenship, had been serving time for corruption when he escaped mid-December. snip
Comment could not be immediately obtained from U.S. officials in the Emirates, but Fintor told The Associated Press Monday that while an earlier conviction against al-Samaraie was recently overturned by Iraqi courts, ''We understand there are additional charges against Mr. al-Samaraie.''
The former minister said Americans were involved in his jailbreak, but none were affiliated with the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. He declined to say whether any of his American accomplices worked for the U.S. government.