Jordan's King Abdullah has offered asylum to two daughters of toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on humanitarian grounds after they arrived safely from Baghdad today, officials said.
Information Minister Mr Nabil al-Sharif told reporters the king issued an order admitting Saddam's daughters, the eldest Raghd (36) and Rana (34) on their arrival in Jordan.
"They arrived this evening and they are his Majesty's guests for purely humanitarian reasons," Mr Sharif added.
The minister declined to give details on the circumstances of the two daughters' arrival but said they were accompanied by their nine children. Mr Sharif said they were not planning any move elsewhere.
"I have no knowledge they are heading to any other destination," he said.
Their late husbands were brothers Lieutenant General Hussein Kamel and Saddam Kamel who defected to Jordan in 1995 and announced plans to work to overthrow Saddam. Hussein Kamel headed Iraq's nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programmes for 10 years.
The brothers were executed when they returned to Baghdad in 1996, accused by Saddam's government of giving information about Iraq's weapons to the West.
Since the end of the US led war in April, the two daughters have been living in seclusion and hiding with their mother Sajida, under close tribal protection, Iraqi exile sources in Amman said.