[JURIST] The US military on Monday issued a statement acknowledging the death of a detainee, later revealed to be former Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Hamza al-Zubaidi [GlobalSecurity.org profile]. The statement said Zubaidi, one of Saddam Hussein's top deputies after the first Gulf War, died in US custody last week. Al-Zubaidi is generally considered responsible for the violent suppression of Shia uprisings in the south of the country after the first Gulf War, and directed the destruction of the southern marshes, home of the so-called Marsh Arbsm, between 1992 and 1998. Earlier Monday a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, revealed that Zubaidi was the detainee who had died during a courtroom complaint at the Saddam trial [JURIST archive] during which he also criticizing the general medical care provided to detainees. The cause of Zubaidi's death is unclear and it is unknown where he was being held prior to receiving medical attention, although it may have been at the Camp Cropper [Wikipedia backgrounder] facility near Baghdad airport housing other high-value Iraqi detainees. Reuters has more.