BAGHDAD — A senior Iraqi official says Saddam Hussein's half-brother and former director of his feared general security services has died of cancer.

Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim says Monday that Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan died in a Baghdad hospital and his body will be handed over to his family.

Al-Hassan, who had received several death sentences, was in prison until authorities transferred him to the hospital early Monday as his health deteriorated.

He had lived in exile for a period but was deported to Iraq by the Syrian government in 2005.

Hussein was executed by hanging in Dec. 2006 for his role in the 1982 killings of 148 Shiites following a failed assassination attempt in the early 1980s.