No Apple, this iPhone 7 owner is not Saddam Hussein

Okay Apple, we understand that you aren’t too interested in giving out refunds to iPhone buyers, but do you really need them to prove that they’re not dead dictators?

The Cupertino company and maker of the iPhone 7 landed itself in hot water this week after it asked a Birmingham customer, Sharakat Hussain, to prove that he is not Saddam Hussein (note the spellings).

According to a report by The Sun (aptly named “Saddam Insane”), Hussain returned an iPhone 7 that he bought for his sister to his local Apple store, and was told he’d receive the phone in exchange for cash via a bank transfer. When the transfer wasn’t completed “weeks later”, Hussain emailed Apple.

Apple wanted confirmation that a British iPhone 7 buyer was in fact not Saddam Hussein

The company sent an email in reply, containing a check box to confirm that Hussain wasn’t in fact Saddam Hussein — former dictator of Iraq who was killed in 2006.

“I thought the email was spam and was stunned to learn it was real. I was furious being linked to Saddam,” Hussain told The Sun.

Apple has since issued its “sincerest apologies.”

This isn’t quite the first time a large tech company has lobbed its cultural sensitivity manual out the window.

In July 2016, Facebook barred a Bristol woman named Isis from using the social network, as her name