Lebanese police have arrested a nephew of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Beirut on suspicion of crimes against the Iraqi people, local press reported on Thursday.

The report quoted a Lebanese security source as saying that Bashar Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti, listed in "dangerous wanted terrorist" by the international policing organization, was arrested within the past 48 hours as he was about to leave the country.

The Iraqi government said in a statement following the capture that "Bashar is at the top of a list of those wanted for their crimes against the Iraqi people during and after the rule of the dictator."

Bashar's brother Ayman was arrested over similar charges last May in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, some 180 km north of Baghdad.

Their father Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half- brother, was also arrested in February 2005 near the Syrian border on charges of funding insurgency in Iraq.

Source: Xinhua