In 1978, Chadirji was jailed for life for unfounded charges during the Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr presidency.[15] However, after serving almost two years in the Abu Ghraib prison, he was released when Saddam Hussein assumed power. Saddam wanted Iraq's best architect to oversee the preparations for an international conference to be held in Baghdad in 1983 and to assist with general plans to give Baghdad a facelift.[16] He became Hussein's architectural consultant for Baghdad City Planning, for the period, 1982–1983.[17] While imprisoned, he wrote a book on architecture, Al Ukhaidir and the Crystal Palace, using materials that his wife had smuggled into Abu Ghraib.[18] The book has been described as a "seminal work" on the subject of Iraq's architecture.[19]