Biography
Prior to marrying Saddam, Samira was a doctor. She became Saddam's mistress. Samira came from a merchant family from Baghdad. Kamal Hana Gegeo, Saddam's valet, food taster and friend, introduced Samira to him. Saddam secretly married Samira while married to Sajida Talfah, his first wife. Sajida was jealous and humiliated. Sajida's brother Adnan Khairallah complained about Saddam's mistress. Adnan was killed in a helicopter crash, caused by "mechanical failure." Saddam's bodyguard said that Saddam told him to place a bomb on the helicopter.
Uday Hussein, son of Saddam and Sajida, was also angry over his father's mistress. Uday believed that his status as heir apparent was threatened by the mistress. He took it as an insult to his mother. In October 1988, at a party thrown in the honor of Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Uday beat and stabbed Gegeo to death (some say at the request of his mother), bludgeoning Gegeo repeatedly in front of horrified guests. Saddam declared that Uday would go to trial for murder. The parents of Gegeo (and Sajida herself) begged that Uday be pardoned. Uday was pardoned and banished temporarily to Switzerland.
Her character was featured heavily in the plot of BBC adaptation House of Saddam and was played by Australian actress Christine Stephen-Daly.
Read more about this topic: Samira Shahbandar
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