BAGHDAD: A former Iraqi cabinet minister who holds joint Iraqi-United States nationality escaped from a Baghdad prison on Monday, two months after he was jailed for corruption, a government official said.
Former electricity minister Ayham al-Samarrai fled from jail under joint Iraqi-US guard in the fortified Green Zone, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity and was unable to provide details.
Samarrai was sentenced to two years in jail in October after being convicted of graft by Iraq's Committee for Public Probity.
There had been reports he would seek asylum in the US embassy, but government spokesman Ali al-Dabagh told reporters at the time of his arrest that he was in Iraqi police custody and would be handed over to the justice ministry.
