Abdul-Amir Malla; Wrote Book on Hussein

Abdul-Amir Malla, 55, Iraqi poet and novelist who wrote a book about Saddam Hussein’s life. In 1975, Mall wrote “The Long Days,” a novel about the Iraqi president’s early life and his participation int he 1959 assassination attempt of Prime Minister Gen. Abdul Karim Qassim. Born in the Shite holy city of Najaf, Malla joined the Baath Party as a youth and later became active in its propaganda department. After the party came to power in a military coup in 1968, he became editor in chief of the state-owned weekly paper Ale Ba. He later served as deputy information minister but was removed from his post after the 1991 Gulf War. On Tuesday in Baghdad, Iraq. of brain clot.