Blair wants Kelly's death probed

2003-07-19 11:29

Tokyo - British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday said the mystery death of a British government expert on Iraqi biological weapons was a "terrible tragedy," but added an "independent inquiry should be allowed to establish the facts".

"I am profoundly saddened for David Kelly and his family. He did immense amount of good for his country in the past. And I am sure he would have in the future," Blair told reporters in Tokyo, the first stop on a six-day Asian tour.

"There is now, however, going to be a due process and a proper and independent inquiry, and I believe that should be allowed to establish the facts," he said.

"And I hope we can set aside speculation and claims and counter-claims, and allow that process to take its proper course.

"In the meanwhile, all of us, politicians and the media alike, should show some respect and restraint," he said.

Blair was flying over the Pacific, mid-way between Washington and Tokyo, when he learned by satellite telephone that Kelly had been found dead in woods in the English countryside after he disappeared from his home.

Kelly had denied before a parliamentary committee in London two days earlier that he was the source of a BBC report in late May that Downing Street had misused intelligence to beef up the case for war against Saddam Hussein.

- AFX