BAGHDAD, Dec 10: An Iraqi prison chief and his deputy were arrested on Sunday after Saddam Hussein’s nephew escaped jail a day earlier.

Ayman al-Sabawi, the son of Saddam’s half brother, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti, escaped Badoush prison near the northern city of Mosul on Saturday after the jail’s night watch commander told colleagues he was transferring him to another prison. Sabawi is accused of funding the Sunni insurgency.

Interior Ministry officials said they believed the commander had been bribed to help Sabawi escape. The night watch captain, whose family has also disappeared, convinced guards to free Sabawi after showing them a forged transfer form, they said.

“The interior minister has ordered that a committee be formed to investigate (the escape) and the arrest of the head of the prison and his deputy,” ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul Kareem Khalaf told state television.

Mosul police said the two officials had been detained late on Saturday night and were being questioned on Sunday.—Reuters