Jordanian Bar Association prepares to defend Saddam Hussain

The Jordanian Bar Association is working on detailing the legal substance to defend former Iraqi President Saddam Hussain, who was visited by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Saturday.

"There are many aspects for the defence... that require scientific study," Hussain Mejali, President of the Jordanian Bar Association told Gulf News yesterday.

"For example, we say that Saddam Hussain is the legitimate Iraqi president. This needs a legal substance," Mejali explained. "And the same applies to the saying that the legitimate president of Iraq enjoys legal protection and should not be held accountable.

"Supposing that this is not true, he (Saddam) needs a fair trial, so what would be the fair trial in the case of the Iraqi President Saddam Hussain?" said Mejali, adding that Jordanian lawyers are working within the framework of the Arab Lawyers Union.

The nearly 8,000-member Jordanian Bar Association, along with other professional associations in Jordan, has long supported Saddam.

Mejali had earlier issued a statement saying he believed Saddam was unlawfully deposed by coalition forces in April 2003, and unlawfully captured by US troops.

On Saturday, a physician and an Arabic-speaking delegate from the ICRC visited Saddam for the first time since his capture on December 13, in his undisclosed place of detention in Iraq.

They spent "enough time" with the former Iraqi president, Mueen Qasees, ICRC spokesman in Amman, told Gulf News.

"This time was sufficient to check the conditions of his place of detention, and his health," Qasees said.

He said Saddam asked to deliver a "Red Cross message to his family", and that the ICRC was not asked to deliver any message from Saddam's two daughters, Raghad and Rana, who have been living in Amman since last July with their nine children.

The ICRC spokesman could not say if the message would be delivered to his daughters, or to his wife, Sajeda, whose place of living is unknown, despite reports claiming she lives in Syria.

Meanwhile, ICRC expects visits to Saddam to be repeated, "like what we do with the rest of prisoners and detainees", Qasees said. "The visits need arrangements, and there will be visits in the future, but a clear timing for the coming visits has not been specified," he added.

ICRC waited for weeks for US approval of its request to visit Saddam, who was accepted by Washington on January 9 as a prisoner of war (POW).

POW status entitles the former Iraqi president to the protection and treatment stipulated under the Third Geneva Convention.

Some press reports pointed out then that by declaring him a POW, Washington became free of its earlier position to hand Saddam Hussain over to the Iraqi Governing Council, which the reports explained, has no legal authority to take him, as it has not signed the international conventions.

The US-appointed council was angered by the American step, and demanded that Saddam stand trial in Iraq for crimes against the Iraqi people.

As no decision has been made on how and when Saddam will be tried, some Jordanian political analysts insist that there are two important elements in Saddam's trial that should be taken into consideration: Iraqi presence, and Iraqi soil.

"I am not a legal expert, but I believe the United States has to listen carefully to the demands of the Iraqi people, who called for a fair trial for Saddam on Iraqi soil," Hani Hourani, Director of Al Urdun Al Jadid Research Center in Amman, told Gulf News.

"Because the Iraqi people were the victims of Saddam's policy," he said.

On the other hand, nearly 1,000 Jordanian lawyers expressed their readiness to join the defence team, Mejali said during a recent interview with Gulf News.

Defending Saddam would be among the main factors that would increase tension and lack of trust between the Jordanian and Iraqi peoples, some political analysts in Jordan believe.

"I feel that the efforts of the bar association will not achieve justice, but (will) harm the Jordanian people" said Hourani.

"What is required from the civil society institutions in Jordan is to stand up for the Iraqi people and not the ousted president," he added.

Mejali, however, believes that "correct legal defence would, on the contrary, strengthen relations between the Jordanian and Iraqi peoples, and that it is their duty to provide legal protection to all those Iraqis, including Saddam, who are the victims of US aggression".