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Saddam lawyer targets Britain
13/05/2004 20:28 - (SA)
Paris - Veteran French lawyer Jacques Verges was to file a suit on Thursday at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Britain for war crimes, he said.
Verges, who is one of several attorneys asked to act for former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, said the suit would be on behalf of "the families of prisoners of the coalition in which Britain participates".
"The reality of torture and systematic abuses of the dignity of Iraqi prisoners, sometimes followed by murders, both by US and British troops is no longer in question," read the text of the complaint.
"There are strong presumptions that the facts that form the basis of our complaint were committed with the participation of nationals of the United Kingdom, which, unlike the US... is a party to the (court's) statute," the text goes on.
The US does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, which began work in July 2002 with the aim of "ensuring that the gravest international crimes do not go unpunished".
A controversial courtroom performer, Verges, 79, has acted in the past for Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie and the terrorist known as Carlos.
In March, he said he was taken on by Saddam Hussein's nephew, Ali Barzan al-Takriti, to represent his uncle at a future trial.
- AFP
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