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07/05/2004:
"Saddam's Lawyers Seeking Help in Libya"
Associated PressAMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Three Jordanian lawyers who claim to represent Saddam Hussein left Monday for Libya to enlist attorneys there for the defense team.
Ziad al-Khasawneh told The Associated Press the two-day visit also was aimed at ``coordinating President Saddam's defense strategy with the daughter of the Libyan leader, Moammar Gadhafi.''
Aicha Moammar Gadhafi, a law professor in her late 20s, told the lawyers Friday that she was joining the Jordan-based defense team. She will also form a team of legal experts in her country to help in the defense, said al-Khasawneh, one of the 20 lawyers appointed by Saddam's wife Sajida. the group includes lawyers from Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Western countries such as the United States, Britain, France and Belgium.
...Al-Khasawneh said the Jordanian lawyers received a telephone call Saturday from Salem Chalabi, general director of the Iraqi court, telling them non-Iraqi lawyers will not be allowed to defend Saddam.
``We told him he was wrong and that he must read the regulations of the Iraqi Bar Association which allows Arabs to represent defendants in Iraqi courts,'' al-Khasawneh said.
The lawyers had planned to dispatch Jordanian team member Ziad Najdawi to Iraq but later said the trip was suspended, apparently for safety concerns. Najdawi had planned to make the trip to present Iraqi authorities with the power of attorney signed by Saddam's wife and to try to meet Saddam.
The defense lawyers have claimed that Iraqi authorities have warned them not to travel to Iraq.
Members of the defense team say they have received anonymous death threats.full article
