Uday Hussein

Uday Saddam Hussein (Arabic: عدي صدام حسين; 18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician, militia leader, and businessman. He was the eldest son of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his first wife Sajida Talfah, and was known for his excessive cruelty, erratic behavior, and human rights abuses, which included torture, rape, and murder.

Born in Baghdad, Uday was seen for several years as the likely successor to his father; however, he lost the place as heir apparent to his younger brother, Qusay, owing to injuries in an assassination attempt. Owing to his family connections, Uday held multiple roles in the Iraqi political and military circles, as well as in business.

He held positions as a sports chairman, heading the Iraqi Olympic Committee, Iraq Football Association, and the Fedayeen Saddam. He was notorious for using his positions to inflict torture and abuse. Athletes who lost matches were often imprisoned, beaten, and tortured in a private prison in the basement of the Olympic Committee building, sometimes in a sarcophagus with nails pointing inward or by being dropped into acid baths.

Uday was accused of serial rape and murder of young women, whom his guards would often snatch from the streets and force to come to his parties. In one infamous incident, he bludgeoned his father's favorite bodyguard to death at a party in 1988, an act for which he was briefly imprisoned by his father.

Owing to Uday's violent and unstable nature, Saddam eventually favored his younger, more discreet son Qusay as his successor. In 1996, Uday was severely injured in an assassination attempt by gunmen, which left him partially paralyzed and able to walk only with great difficulty. Following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, he was killed alongside Qusay and his nephew Mustafa by an American task force after a prolonged gunfight in Mosul.