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Gadhafi's daughter joins Saddam's defense team
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-03 16:37
The daughter of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will help
defend Saddam Hussein in court, a Jordanian lawyer and member of the legal team
representing the former Iraqi dictator said Friday.
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Saddam Hussein
appears in a courtroom at Camp Victory, a former Saddam palace on the
outskirts of Baghdad, Thursday, July 1, 2004. Downcast but defiant,
Saddam questioned the judge's authority and saying the
"real criminal" was U.S. President Bush. Saddam, who arrived at the
courthouse in handcuffs and chains, was read seven charges under a
preliminary arrest warrant and told his rights, pool reporters granted
access to the heavily guarded proceedings said. [AP
Photo]
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Aicha Moammar Gadhafi, a law professor, will form a Libyan
law experts team to defend Saddam Hussein, Ziad al-Khasawneh said.
"The daughter of the Libyan president is welcomed to join us, and we consider
her as an official member of the team," he said.
He added that the Jordanian-based multinational defense team had telephoned
Gadhafi on Thursday to offer their thanks.
A statement issued late Thursday by a charity association headed by Gadhafi's
daughter, in her late 20s, said she wanted to guarantee Saddam received a "fair
trail (based on) the principle that all accused should be presumed innocent
until proven guilty."
The statement, from the association's office in the Libyan capital, Tripoli,
said several Libyan lawyers will join Saddam's defense team, which already
includes lawyers from Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Western countries such as the
United States, Britain, France and Belgium.
Saddam and 11 other defendants, all former members of the ousted Iraqi
regime, faced court in Baghdad for the first time Thursday on war crimes and
genocide charges.
Defense lawyers were not present for the brief arraignment.
Saddam's lawyers have complained of being kept in the dark concerning their
client's case, because they did not receive answers to their request to the
American administration, the International Committee for the Red Cross and the
Iraqi authorities to meet with the ex-Iraqi leader and be present when he was
indicted.
Al-Khasawneh said a member of the team, top Arab Lawyers Union official
Mohammed al-Alaqi, arrived Thursday in Jordan from Libya to help in Saddam's
defense.
Jordanian Mohammed Rashdan, who heads the defense team, is waiting in Amman
for assurances that the team can safely travel to Iraq.
Rashdan, affiliated with Saddam's collapsed Baath Party, has represented the
former Iraqi regime in several cases.
His team includes Washington lawyer Curtis Doebbler and French attorney
Emmanuel Ludot.
Days after Saddam's December 13 capture, the former dictator's wife, Sajida
Khairallah Telfah, asked Rashdan to defend her husband, the lawyer said.
Ziad Tariq Aziz, the son of former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz,
appointed Rashdan's team Thursday to defend his father.
At an Arab summit in May, Gadhafi said he was "disgusted" that the 22-member
Arab League had not done enough to represent Saddam.
"What's the significance of this Arab gathering?" Gadhafi said before packing
up and leaving the summit venue, Tunis. "How can this summit convene while there
are two Arab presidents in jail?
Gadhafi was referring to Saddam and Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat, who has been holed up in his West Bank headquarters for more than
two years, besieged by Israeli forces.
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