Posted on 05/14/2004 2:58:52 AM PDT by kattracks
PARIS (AP) -- A French lawyer claiming to represent a nephew of Saddam Hussein said he has filed suit at the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes by Britain in Iraq.Jacques Verges, in a 15-page filing to the court he said he filed Thursday, also called on prosecutors to open an investigation into alleged crimes committed by the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
In the filing, Verges cited reports of abuse from Amnesty International, the International Committee for the Red Cross and U.S. Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who first investigated prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
"Nobody doubts ... the reality of torture and systematic abuses of the dignity of Iraqi prisoners -- followed possibly by murder -- as much by the troops of the United States as those of Britain," Verges wrote.
Verges said he represents Ali Barzane al-Takriti, a nephew of Saddam, and Zyad Aziz, a son of former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz. The lawyer has previously claimed to represent Saddam himself.
The suit did not identify specific British military leaders alleged to be responsible for torture, leaving it to the court to identify those who "ordered, solicited or encouraged the commission of these crimes."
The suit only targets British officials because the United States has not ratified the 1998 treaty establishing the court in The Hague, Netherlands.
The court has indicated that it doesn't have jurisdiction over events that occurred in Iraq, which also never ratified its founding treaty.
The British government said Thursday that newspaper pictures allegedly showing British soldiers threatening and urinating on an Iraqi prisoner were not taken in Iraq. However, British Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram stopped short of calling the images fake.
British military officials said an investigation into the allegations of torture would continue.
Verges has previously defended Klaus Barbie, a Nazi Gestapo chief in France in World War II.
Verges has said he believes the United States violated the Geneva Conventions on several counts in its detention of Saddam.
Silly French lawyer alert.
Filing claims against the US/UK yet defending Saddam Hussein.
The French are just funny at this point.
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