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Saddam abuse fears raised
10/05/2004 07:28 - (SA)
Amman - Twenty lawyers, including several Arabs and an American, have been chosen by the family of Saddam Hussein to represent the jailed former Iraqi dictator, Jordanian lawyer Mohammad Al-Rachdane said on Sunday.
Rachdane said the defence team would meet every week in Amman to prepare Saddam's defence.
He said the lawyers were "deeply concerned" about Saddam's treatment in US custody following the revelations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by their US military jailers.
"We were already concerned about this issue but at the moment we are very worried since we saw what happened with ordinary citizens in the prisons," he said.
He said that in December he sent a letter to the US-led coalition authorities in Iraq seeking permission to see Saddam but so far he had received no reply.
Rachdane, who is included as part of the defence team, said the lawyers had been appointed by Saddam's wife, Sajida, and his three daughters.
They include eight Jordanians, four Egyptians, two Tunisians, an American, a Swiss and a Frenchman. The list does not include the name of Frenchman Jacques Verges, who has previously claimed to be Saddam's lawyer.
The American is Curtis Doebbler, a former professor of human rights law at the American University in Cairo and an adviser to the Palestinian Authority.
According to a power of attorney letter, Saddam's wife authorises the team to "pursue all subjects and cases" concerning his arrest, detention, his status and rights as a prisoner of war and any other "threats that he might be exposed to".
Saddam has been in US custody since his capture on December 13 and is due to be tried along with other members of his ousted regime before a special Iraqi war crimes tribunal.
Iraq adopted a war crimes tribunal statute late last year, setting up the provisions for five-man tribunals to judge those suspected of ordering and executing the atrocities committed under the former regime.
Saddam is also likely to be tried for the persecution of the Shiite Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as for alleged war crimes against Kuwait.
Iran is also believed to be preparing a formal complaint against him for the torture of Iranian prisoners captured during their 1980-1988 war.
The special Iraqi tribunal will issue verdicts based on Iraqi law, but international law will also be used as a tool in order to deal with crimes against humanity that are not recognised by the Iraqi penal code.
Crimes such as murder, torture and rape will be tried according to the 1969 penal code which was rehabilitated in June 2003, following the end of the US-led war, to remove the death penalty and articles introduced by the former regime.
The United States has earmarked $75m to the special tribunal, from a total of $18.4bn in aid granted to the reconstruction of Iraq, according to the US-trained Iraqi magistrate who will head the court.
- AFP
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