- Saddam Hussein's defense lawyers said Monday they had
received no response from the U.S. occupation forces in Iraq to repeated
requests to see their client.
-
- "We are deeply concerned and worried about his security,
how is he treated and how is he living," Mohammad Rashdan said. "We
are very worried."
-
- Photographs showing the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu
Ghraib prison have outraged the world. The U.S. government has claimed
only a small number of soldiers were involved and has pressed charges against
seven of them.
-
- But human rights groups have said torture and abuse are
widespread in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq, and Rashdan said that
meant his client was also at risk.
-
- "The torture is systematic, and the leaders of the
occupation know it, so it is not only a small bunch of soldiers,"
he said.
-
- Rashdan said Saddam's wife, Sajida Khairallah Telfah,
appointed him as part of a 20-lawyer team assigned to defend the deposed
Iraqi president.
-
- U.S. officials who are holding Saddam have said they
will turn him over to an Iraqi court set up to try him and other leaders
of the former government. In April, that tribunal appointed judges and
prosecutors.
-
- No trial date has been set, and no charges have been
filed.
-
- One of the defense lawyers, French attorney Emmanuel
Ludot, has sent a letter to the Americans asking for permission to meet
with their client, but no answer has been received, Rashdan said. He said
he also has appealed to the Red Cross and other humanitarian groups for
help in arranging a meeting with Saddam.
-
- U.S. officials have not said where they are holding Saddam.
-
- Rashdan said the team, which includes Washington lawyer
Curtis Doebbler, who represents suspects held by the United States at Guantanamo
Bay, are meeting weekly to prepare documents and update their contacts
with other lawyers from Britain, Germany, Greece and other countries.
-
- "They are in contact with some 1,500 lawyers and
international law experts from all over the world, including some Iraqis,
who volunteered to help in the preparation of the defense," Rashdan
said. He refused to provide the names of the Iraqi lawyers "for their
safety."
-
- "My argument will be focused on the legitimacy of
the tribunal and the legitimacy of Iraq's constitution drafted under the
occupation which ousted the legitimate president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein,"
he said.
-
- Rashdan would not say whether Saddam's wife has expressed
her concern about her husband's situation. He also wouldn't say where she
was.
-
- Saddam's two eldest daughters, Raghad and Rana, who have
been living in Jordan since July, have said in interviews that their mother
refused to join them in the kingdom. She is believed to be in Qatar.
-
- Salem Chalabi, general director of the Iraqi tribunal,
has said that under Iraqi law, the lead attorney needs to be Iraqi, but
that other members of the team could come from other countries.
-
- Chalabi said Jordanian lawyers seeking to represent Saddam
have sent letters to the Iraqi Governing Council. "It is still up
in the air," Chalabi said.
-
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- http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=1906
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