Khadafy's daughter on team of lawyers set to defend Hussein

July 04, 2004|Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan -- The daughter of Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy will help defend Saddam Hussein in court, a Jordanian lawyer and member of the legal team representing the former Iraqi dictator said.

Aicha Moammar Khadafy, a law professor, will form a team of Libyan law specialists to defend Hussein, Ziad al-Khasawneh said.

"The daughter of the Libyan president is welcomed to join us, and we consider her as an official member of the team," he said Friday.

A statement issued late Thursday by a charity association headed by Khadafy's daughter, who is in her late 20s, said she wanted to guarantee Hussein received a "fair trial [based on] the principle that all accused should be presumed innocent until proven guilty."

The statement, from the association's office in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, said several Libyan lawyers will join Hussein's defense team, which already includes lawyers from Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Western countries such as the United States, Britain, France, and Belgium.

Defense lawyers were not present on Thursday, when Hussein and 11 officials of his former regime were indicted in Baghdad.

Hussein's lawyers say they have been kept in the dark ontheir client's case. They say there was no response to a request to meet with the former Iraqi leader and be present when he was indicted.

Khasawneh said a member of the team, top Arab Lawyers Union official Mohammed al-Alaqi, arrived Thursday in Jordan from Libya to help in Hussein's defense.

At an Arab summit in May, Khadafy said he was "disgusted" that the 22-member Arab League had not done enough to represent Hussein.