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Saddam defense lawyers preparing convoy to Baghdad
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-06 09:01 Saddam Hussein's Jordan-based defense team said on
Monday a convoy of buses is being arranged to transport hundreds of legal
experts to Baghdad in a show of support for the ousted Iraqi leader.
Issam Ghazawi, a prominent lawyer and one of the 21-strong defense team hired
by Saddam's wife, told Reuters that among the large contingent of lawyers ready
to defend Saddam are 700 non Arabs, including 400 Americans and Europeans.
Mohammed Rashdan,
lawyer for Saddam Hussein, talks to Diane Sawyer, unseen, during a
pre-recorded interview on Good Morning America in New York, N.Y. June 23,
2004. [AP] | Two hundred legal consultants from
across the world have also pledged to help in the case, he said.
"More than half of the over 2,000 lawyers volunteering to defend President
Saddam are expected to join the trip," Ghazawi said.
A meeting in Amman on Wednesday will make the preparations for the overland
trip to Baghdad, despite the risk.
Lawyers have voiced fears about their personal safety in Iraq citing
remarks by officials who attacked Arabs who defend Saddam as a nationalist hero
who fought the Americans.
They also expect to encounter objections by Iraqi lawyers who say existing
laws bar foreigners from defending their countrymen in local courts.
The defense team again contacted U.S. officials last week to allow them
access to their client. They say past requests have been ignored.
Aisha Gaddafi,
pictured, a daughter of libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi, joined Saddam
Hussein's Jordan-based defence team.
[AFP/File] | The Iraqi leader, who was driven from
power by U.S.-led forces in April 2003, appeared before an Iraqi judge last
Thursday to face charges that may lead to a formal indictment for war crimes,
crimes against humanity and genocide.
He was not represented by a lawyer at the hearing and he refused to sign a
statement acknowledging that he had been charged and read his rights, including
a right to legal counsel.
Many lawyers say the trial was a political vendetta by Saddam's political
foes and say only an international court would guarantee an impartial and fair
hearing.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's daughter, Aisha Gaddafi, told Saddam's
lawyers she wanted to join them after seeing the televised court appearance.
"She expressed her desire to join us in seeking a fair trial for President
Saddam away from this sham performance," said Mohammad Rashdan, one of the
lawyers hired by Saddam's wife, Sajida Khairallah.
Gaddafi's daughter set up a Libyan team to defend Saddam and pledged to
send international law jurists and legalists to advice the defense counsel,
Amman-based defense lawyers said.
A team of three Jordanian lawyers have left for Tripoli to meet Aisha
Gaddafi, who is said to have a doctorate in international law and runs Libya's
largest humanitarian charity.
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