Latif Yahia: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Iraqi human rights activist, lieutenant, and writer (born 1964)}}

| name = Latif Yahia

| image = Latif Yahia.jpg

| caption = Yahia in 2009

| birth_name = Latif Yahia or لطيف يحيى in Arabic

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1964|6|14}}

| birth_place = [[Baghdad]], Iraq

| death_date =

| death_place =

| resting_place =

| years_active = 1997–present

| language =

| citizenship =

| module = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes

| serviceyears = [[Iraqi Armed Forces]] (1980–1987)

'''Latif Yahia ''' ({{lang-langx|ar|لطيف يحيى}}, ''Laṭīf Yaḥīa''; born 14 June 1964<ref name="alhayat">{{cite web|url=http://daharchives.alhayat.com/issue_archive/Wasat%20magazine/1994/10/17/%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D8%B5%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%8A-%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7-%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%AA-%D9%88%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%87%D8%A8.html|title=بديل عدي صدام حسين يروي لـ "الوسط" . قصة نهب الكويت وقصة تابوت الذهب|work=[[Al-Hayat]]|language=Arabic|date=17 October 1994|accessdate=27 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424143956/http://daharchives.alhayat.com/issue_archive/Wasat%20magazine/1994/10/17/%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D8%B5%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%8A-%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7-%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%87%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%AA-%D9%88%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%87%D8%A8.html|archive-date=24 April 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>) is an Iraqi blogger, political writer, and former [[Iraqi Armed Forces|lieutenant]] that served in the [[Iran–Iraq War]]. He is known for being the alleged former body double of [[Uday Hussein]], infamous elder son of [[Saddam Hussein]].

Yahia was born to a wealthy merchant family of Iraqi [[KurdsFeyli in(tribe)|Iraqi–Kurdish Iraq|Kurdishorigins]] origin who had long been settled in Baghdad.<ref name=alhayat/> He alleges that he became Uday's double in September 1987 during the [[Iran–Iraq War]], in which he was a lieutenant. He was born 4 days before Uday’s official birth date. At the age of 23, he was summoned from the frontlines to the [[Presidential Palace, Baghdad|presidential palace]], where he discovered that Uday remembered that classmates had remarked on the resemblance between the two when they were in school together. Yahia was informed that he was to become Uday's ''fedai'' (body double) to make public appearances as Uday whenever a dangerous situation was expected. Yahia initially refused to take the job and was subsequently put in solitary confinement. After his imprisonment, Latif agreed to be Uday's double. He was trained for six months to imitate Uday's speech patterns and manner. He underwent surgery and dental work to make their appearances more similar. During the Iraqi [[invasion of Kuwait]], Yahia was used as a morale booster for the Iraqi troops and sent to [[Basra]] posing as Uday to meet with troops.<ref name="AP-1995">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GxwOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kX0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6835,548224&dq=latif+yahia |title=Being Double to Saddam's Son More than a Job |date=5 November 1995 |work=The Daily Courier |page=A12 |accessdate=14 January 2012 |location=Yavapai County, Arizona}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/8388903.stm |work=Hardtalk |publisher=BBC News online |title=Uday Hussein was 'worse than a psychopath' |date=1 December 2009 |accessdate=14 January 2012}}.</ref>

His relationship with Uday later deteriorated. According to Yahia, the final straw came when a woman Uday was interested in paid more attention to Yahia. Uday shot at him, grazing him. When ordered to kill the father of a beauty pageant holder, a defiant Yahia slit his arms in front of Uday and the father.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/my-life-uday-husseins-body-double-68475|title = My Life as Uday Hussein's Body Double|website = [[Newsweek]]|date = 17 July 2011}}</ref> Yahia fled north in November 1991, where he was arrested by Kurdish [[Peshmerga]], being mistaken for Uday. When they realized he was not Uday, he was released and granted asylum in [[Austria]] in 1992. After Yahia was attacked in Austria, he moved to [[London]] in 1995.<ref name=AP-1995 />

''[[Irish Times]]'' journalist Eoin Butler and ''[[Sunday Times]]'' journalist Ed Caesar have questioned Yahia's various claims, including that he was Uday Hussein's body double, and pointed out that many of Yahia's activities since leaving Iraq in 1992, including his education, have not been verified.<ref name="Caesar">{{cite news |url=http://www.edcaesar.co.uk/article.php?article_id=55 |first=Ed |last=Caesar |title=The Double Dealer |work=The Sunday Times |date=23 January 2011 |accessdate=14 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426020158/http://www.edcaesar.co.uk/article.php?article_id=55 |archivedate=26 April 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name="Butler">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2011/aug/13/devils-double-tangled-tale |first=Eoin |last=Butler |title=The Tangled Tale behind The Devil's Double |work=The Guardian |date=13 August 2011 |accessdate=14 January 2012}}</ref> In 2011, Caesar interviewed various people from the time of the Hussein regime who said they had never heard of Yahia, nor of Uday ever using doubles.<ref name=Caesar /> Yahia disputes these claims, saying that his very existence was a state secret.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.latifyahia.net/1/post/2012/01/dirty-tricks-and-media-manipulation.html |title=Dirty Tricks and Media Manipulation |work=Official Website of Latif Yahia |first=Latif |last=Yahia |date=14 January 2012 |accessdate=3 February 2012}}</ref>

The movie ''[[The Devil's Double]]'', directed by [[Lee Tamahori]] and starring [[Dominic Cooper]] as Yahia and Uday, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival on 22 January 2011.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=73779 |title=Lionsgate and Herrick Take on The Devil's Double |work=ComingSoon.net |publisher=CraveOnline |date=3 February 2011 |accessdate=5 July 2011 |archive-date=27 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027194544/http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=73779 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Yahia was also the subject of an episode of [[National Geographic Channel]]'s ''[[Banged Up Abroad|Locked Up Abroad]]'' in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national-geographic-channel/shows/locked-up-abroad-1/ngc-hellish-prison-cell.stm |work=Locked up Abroad |publisher=National Geographic Channel online |title=Hellish Prison Cell |date=2 April 2012 |accessdate=2 May 2012}}{{dead link|date=November 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

[[Category:Living20th-century peopleIraqi writers]]

[[Category:Iraqi militaryemigrants personnelto Ireland]]