- AMMAN - The chief lawyer
for Saddam Hussein issued an impassioned appeal on Friday to the world's
law bodies for help to pressure the Iraqi tribunal to supply the Amman-based
legal panel with any documents needed to defend the former Iraqi leader.
-
- Ziyad Khasawneh also warned that if the Iraqi tribunal
continued to keep his team in the dark, the panel could be obliged to "quit"
the assignment.
-
- Khasawneh said: "So far, the special Iraqi court
has insisted on keeping us in complete blackout by failing to provide us
with any document regarding the charges levelled against the president
or the outcome of investigations conducted with him."
-
- Preliminary rules of litigation
-
- He said: "The Iraqi lawyer who represents the president's
defence panel in Iraq, Kahlil Duleimi, also failed to get any papers from
the tribunal.
-
- "This runs counter to the preliminary rules of litigation.
It is not a trial. It is a farce."
-
- Khasawneh appealed to the world's law bodies as well
as to the international public opinion "to say their word on what
is taking place".
-
- He said: "They should come to our help, otherwise
we could be forced to quit the job if we don't have any other choice."
-
- Khasawneh led about 30 Arab and non-Arab prominent legal
specialists who volunteered to defend the former Iraqi president.
-
- Lawyers Meet Saddam Twice
-
- The panel included renowned lawyers such as former French
foreign minister, Roland Dumas, former US attorney general Ramsey Clark
and Aisheh, daughter of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
-
- In compliance with the Iraqi bar association rules, Saddam's
defence team appointed Duleimi to represent it in Iraq. The Iraqi lawyer
succeeded in meeting Saddam at least twice for the past few months - the
last time on April 27.
-
- Khasawneh said: "President Saddam told Duleimi that
he had complete confidence in the Amman-based in defence panel, but the
problem is that the so-called special Iraqi tribunal refuses to provide
us with any document. How then can we proceed with our job?"
-
- Saddam, whose regime was knocked out by a United States-led
multi-national force in April 2003, was captured by an American force in
December the same year at a hideout near his hometown, Tikrit.
-
- First Time Saddam Appears In Public
-
- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said
that they managed to visit the former Iraqi leader several times under
his US custody inside Iraq.
-
- Saddam appeared in public for the first time before the
Iraqi tribunal on 1 July 2004, but refused to respond to the charges list,
saying he would not speak "without the presence of my lawyers".
-
- A series of declarations was made in Iraq for the past
few weeks about an imminent resumption of Saddam's trial.
-
- Leith Kubba of government said earlier this week that,
the Iraqi court would bring only 12 charges of crimes against humanity
against Saddam Hussein, although there were more than 500 possible cases
against the ousted Iraqi leader.
-
- Edited by Andiswa Mesatywa
-
- http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1719646,00.html
|
