Mumbai: A Mumbaikar, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in an Iraqi jail by Saddam Hussein for making statements against the dictator during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, is a free man now and is expected to arrive in the city any time, according to family sources in Mumbai.

Mohammad Anis Bashir Saboowallah (42), who was traced by an Indian television crew last week following a jailbreak after the Americans bombarded some of the jails, has already left for Amman from Baghdad, the sources told reporters.

Anis's brother Soheb Bashir Saboowallah said, "so far we have nod received any news personally, but we hope to see him soon".

Anis was a businessman and he lived in Kuwait along with 45 family members till 1990.

When Kuwait was invaded by Saddam, he sent back all the family members to Mumbai and said he would follow them.

"But we came to know in 1994, when we got the first communication from the Indian Embassy in Baghdad about Anis that he was lodged in a jail in Iraq," Soheb said.

"We received communication from Anis till February 2003 through the Indian Embassy in which he wrote that the war has started and he did not know his fate."

"We are grateful to the television reporter Parvez Bhukar and others for making the family reunion possible after 13 years through satellite communication and it was a real emotional one," Soheb said.

PTI