Death threat for Saddam lawyer

2004-06-29 20:31

Amman - A member of Saddam Hussein's defence team said on Tuesday that Iraqi Justice Minister Malek Dohan al-Hassan threatened him and other lawyers with "death", but the Iraqi official denied the allegations.

The row came as the US-led coalition prepared to hand the ousted president over to the custody of the new Iraqi authorities on Wednesday.

"The Iraqi justice minister phoned me today and told me: 'If you and the others are thinking of coming to Iraq to defend Saddam, we will not only kill you but we will cut you up in pieces,'" Jordanian lawyer Issam Ghazawi said.

"His tone of voice was threatening and he used vulgar terms so I hung up on him," he said.

Questioned in Baghdad, the Iraqi minister acknowledged that he spoke to Ghazawi but strongly denied the lawyer's allegations.

"He is a blatant liar" Hassan said.

"I did not threaten anyone. I told him: 'If you want to defend Saddam Hussein you must come to Iraq and visit, first, the mass graves,'" he said in reference to thousands of graves of murdered dissidents and other prisoners uncovered since Saddam's fall.

Ghazawi said he believed he received the "threats" because the head of the defence team, Mohammad Rashdan, was currently visiting the United States.

Rashdan, who is also Jordanian, heads a 20-member defence team appointed by Saddam's wife Sajida and his three daughters, Raghad, Rana and Hala, to defend him, following his capture by US troops in northern Iraq in December.

The defence team has repeatedly accused the United States of preventing them from meeting their client and threatened earlier this month to file a suit against the US administration.

The team has also petitioned the International Committee of the Red Cross to help it meet Saddam and provide them with a health report about their client.

- AFP