Kadhem Sharif - Bike Collection

Bike Collection

Kadhem had been a bike collector almost all his life but after the war his collection greatly expanded until he was arrested. In his collection there were a number of notable bike including:

• 1914 - This Norton was part of the escort of King Faisal, Iraq's first monarch.

• 1947 - British-made BSA that he found rusting in a farm in "Anbar province", an area of western Iraq notorious for insurgent violence since the 2003 US-led invasion.

• 1957 British Norton motorcycle that Saddam Hussein the revolutionary rode when on the run after the assassination of then Iraqi President Abd al-Karim Qasim half a century ago.

• 1957 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, formerly the property of the Emir of Kuwait.

• Saddam's eldest son, Uday Hussein, became an invalid after he was seriously injured in a 1996 assassination attempt. Uday, also a collector of bikes, had his collection made into three-wheelers so he could still drive them. After Saddam's fall Kadhem was able to get his hands on all of Uday's monster three-wheeled invalid motorcycles.