Saddam files war crimes suit against UK

PARIS – Veteran French lawyer Jacques Verges will filed a suit yesterday for war crimes against Britain at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, he told AFP.

Verges, who is one of several attorneys asked to act for former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, said the suit would be on behalf of “the families of prisoners of the coalition in which Britain participates.” “The reality of torture and systematic abuses of the dignity of Iraqi prisoners, sometimes followed by murders, both by US and British troops is no longer in question,” the text of the complaint reads.”There are strong presumptions that the facts that form the basis of our complaint were committed with the participation of nationals of the United Kingdom, which unlike the US… is a party to the (court’s) statute,” the text goes on.The US does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, which began work in July 2002 with the aim of “ensuring that the gravest international crimes do not go unpunished.”A controversial courtroom performer, Verges, 79, has acted in the past for Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie and the terrorist known as Carlos.In March he said he was taken on by Saddam Hussein’s nephew Ali Barzan al-Takriti to represent his uncle at a future trial.- Nampa-AFP”The reality of torture and systematic abuses of the dignity of Iraqi prisoners, sometimes followed by murders, both by US and British troops is no longer in question,” the text of the complaint reads.”There are strong presumptions that the facts that form the basis of our complaint were committed with the participation of nationals of the United Kingdom, which unlike the US… is a party to the (court’s) statute,” the text goes on.The US does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, which began work in July 2002 with the aim of “ensuring that the gravest international crimes do not go unpunished.”A controversial courtroom performer, Verges, 79, has acted in the past for Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie and the terrorist known as Carlos.In March he said he was taken on by Saddam Hussein’s nephew Ali Barzan al-Takriti to represent his uncle at a future trial.- Nampa-AFP