Carlos the Jackal Lawyer Offers Services to Saddam

Reuters ^ | December 15, 2003

[Shermy]

PARIS, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A French lawyer known for his notorious clients said on Monday he would be ready to defend Saddam Hussein and that the former Iraqi leader must be presumed innocent at any trial.

Jacques Verges, who has represented Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and international guerrilla Carlos the Jackal, said hiding Saddam away was against international conventions. U.S. troops captured the deposed leader on Saturday, but his whereabouts remain a mystery.

"If he had to be prosecuted tomorrow, he would have to be presumed innocent," Verges told French radio station Europe 1, adding that Saddam should be allowed to receive visitors if he is held as a prisoner of war.

Asked if he was ready to defend Saddam, Verges said: "Yes." But he made clear he was only speaking hypothetically.

Saddam could be tried by a special tribunal set up last week by Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council with a mandate covering war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Charges against him could focus on the campaign against Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, the use of chemical weapons on Iranian troops and Kurdish civilians, the suppression of the Kurdish and Shi'ite uprisings in 1991, the punishment of the Marsh Arabs and the forced expulsions of ethnic minorities in the north.

Verges warned such charges could implicate Western leaders who once backed Saddam.

"If he is judged and treated like a pariah, clearly his defence counsel would have to say 'but this pariah was the friend of all the Western heads of state. He was not only their friend but their ally'," Verges said.

Referring to allegations of atrocities, Verges said: "It must be established whether everything that happened was rumour or not, and what the responsibility was of the allies of the former Iraqi government."

Verges has taken on tough cases before. Barbie, known as the "butcher of Lyon", was jailed for life in 1987 for crimes against humanity in Nazi-occupied France.

Carlos the Jackal, whose real name is Illich Ramirez Sanchez, is serving a life sentence in France for a string of deadly attacks in Europe in the 1970s and 80s.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ping

[tet68]

I say let him defend him, if Saddam loses, the lawyer gets the chop too.

[Ragirl]

This is just priceless!

[sonofatpatcher2]

Gad, we know it is the bottom of the evil bucket when a French lawyer slithers out!

[Argus]

Nope. Saddam will have to find an Iraqi lawyer willing to defend him. Foreigners need not apply.

[TrebleRebel]

Jacques Verges, who has represented Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and international guerrilla Carlos the Jackal, said hiding Saddam away was against international conventions. U.S. troops captured the deposed leader on Saturday, but his whereabouts remain a mystery.

Well, hell, if it makes him happy, we'll put him up in a hotel in Bahgdad, and tell all the locals his room number so they can "pay their respects."

[reed_inthe_wind]

There is no doubt in my mind that this guy is french. He probably has an erotic reaction everytime he gets near evil.

[Shermy]

Verges was also Milosevic's lawyer for a while.

[TrebleRebel]

International counterpart of Johnnie Cochran?

[Howlin]

Sounds more like Mark Geragos to me.

[Gritty]

A lot of American lawyers are going to be upset if this guy gets the job!

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

He should call Manuel Noriega's attorney.

[prairiebreeze]

Referring to allegations of atrocities, Verges said: "It must be established whether everything that happened was rumour or not, and what the responsibility was of the allies of the former Iraqi government."

The defense would be to blame the allies? So it's all Bush's fault after all, I guess. sheesh

Prairie

[CaptRon]

He just found out that ol' Saddam had 7500 Ben Franklins on him.

[reg45]

Ramsey Clark wants to be the backup lawyer!!!

[TheyConvictedOglethorpe]

Carlos the Jackal Lawyer Offers Services to Saddam

Oh, you mean Carlos the Jackal's lawyer. Here I thought one of them was just being honest with himself.

[Vigilanteman]

It sounds like this turd-bird is the same type who would claim the bodies in Hitler's death camps were local German civilians who died of starvation or Allied bombing. There are still people who actually beleive it!

[Callahan]

A French lawyer--how apropos.