Iraqi judge pleads for protection after threats from crime boss

Tobacco war kingpin Kazem Hamad has reportedly concocted an extreme plan to kill the judge who locked him up in Iraq. The court official's relatives live in Sydney and say they're asking the Australian government to let his family relocate here on humanitarian grounds. Crime reporter Gillian Lantouris. He put away one of Australia's most wanted fugitives, sentencing Kazem Hamad to life in an Iraq prison. But now Dr Faiq Zidane fears for his own life. The Supreme Judicial Council president of Iraq lives in Baghdad's safe green zone with his wife and three young children. But investigators have reportedly uncovered plans by Hamad to have him assassinated. I think that is just sickening to hear of any judge or anyone being threatened like that. While Hamad was sentenced for international drug trafficking, the AFP and Victoria Police believe he's responsible for a range of sinister crimes, including orchestrating the tobacco war, ordering the arson of a Ripon Lee synagogue and the death of innocent woman Katie Tangie after her killers firebombed the wrong house. One extreme plot involved flying killer drones into the green zone and targeting Dr Zidane's family, though it's unknown if Kazem is directly behind the plan. The full rule of the law is important in any democracy, no matter where you live, wherever you are in the world. The judge's relatives live in Sydney and they have asked the Australian government to relocate the family here on humanitarian grounds. They say they've written to the Prime Minister, to the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs as well as the AFP commissioner. Nine News understands no official asylum claim has been made. Gillian Lantouris, Nine News.