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Ex-US attorney-general to help Saddam<br>
by <br>
Wednesday 29 December 2004 10:53 AM GMT <br><br>
<img src="http://english.aljazeera.net/english/dialogbox/printpreview.aspx?nroriginalurlNR/rdonlyres/11388BFC-9290-4141-B0E1-BEA75A1B20F8/58965/BC40BE987AEC45D6A563CDF3B504FA20.jpg" alt="[]"> <br>
</font><font size=1><b>Ramsey Clark said Washington should also be put on
trial <br><br>
</font><font size=3>Former US attorney-general Ramsey Clark is to join
Saddam Hussein's defence team, a spokesman for the ousted Iraqi
president's lawyers says.<br><br>
</b>Ziad Khasawna said on Wednesday that Clark, who held the office of
attorney-general under US president Lyndon Johnson, had "honoured
and inspired" the legal team by agreeing to help defend
Saddam.<br><br>
<br><br>
The former top US justice official, who arrived on Tuesday in Jordan
where the defence team is based, has become known as a left-wing lawyer
and firm critic of US foreign policy since leaving office.<br><br>
<br><br>
He visited Saddam in Baghdad in February 2003 just before the US-lead
invasion and has also been involved with the defence of former Yugoslav
leader Slobodan Milosevic, on trial for war crimes at a UN court in The
Hague.<br><br>
<br><br>
<b>Clark comment<br><br>
</b> <br><br>
Clark said in the Jordanian capital Amman that his principle concern was
protecting the former president's rights, who only saw a lawyer for the
first time this month - a year after his capture.<br><br>
<br><br>
"In international law, anyone accused of crime has the right to be
tried by a confident, independent and impartial court, and there can be
no fair trail without those qualities," he said.<br><br>
<br><br>
"The special court in Iraq was created by the Iraqi governing
council, which is nothing more than a creation of the US military
occupation and has no authority in law as a criminal court," he
said.<br><br>
<br><br>
The Iraq Special Tribunal was established by the US-led administration in
Iraq last December to try members of the former government. <br><br>
<br><br>
Clark also said the US itself must be tried for the November assault on
Falluja, destruction of houses, torture in prisons and its role in the
deaths of thousands of Iraqis in the war.<br><br>
<b>AFP<br>
By <br><br>
</b>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/11388BFC-9290-4141-B0E1-BEA75A1B20F8.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/11388BFC-9290-4141-B0E1-BEA75A1B20F8.htm</a>
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