Lawyer 'ready' to defend Saddam

A lawyer who claims to have given legal advice to some of the world’s most notorious men today said he was ready to defend Saddam Hussein.

Giovanni Di Stefano said he would be “honoured” to defend Saddam and expected to be asked to do so by the deposed Iraqi president’s daughters.

The London-based Italian lawyer, who is bidding to become director of Dundee FC, says he became a friend of Saddam after meeting him in 1998.

Mr Di Stefano, 48, has also been linked to Serbian warlord Arkan Raznatovic, ex-Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, and terror chief Osama bin Laden.

The tycoon told BBC Online: “I would be honoured to defend His Excellency and I think perhaps his daughters may ask me to defend him.

“I don’t know his daughters but I did know his sons Uday and Qusay.

“If there was a trial with international law, I would put myself down as a representative to defend Saddam. I still hold a valid visa for the country.”

Mr Di Stefano also claims to have given legal advice to serial killer Harold Shipman, road rage killer Kenneth Noye, disgraced peer Jeffrey Archer and tycoon landlord Nicholas van Hoogstraten.

He told STV’s Scotland Today: “Certainly I would not shy away from my responsibility to defend him if I was asked.”

He went on to portray Saddam as a regular family man and urged people not to “demonise” him.

“He has an interest in normal everyday things, he’s a human being, a father, a grandfather, a husband.

“He has a number of wives, people might say they’re fortunate or unfortunate depending on how you look at it.

“We must not demonise individuals, there’s a terrible fault if that ideology were to continue.”

Mr Di Stefano, who is reported to be worth £300m (€427.9m), insisted his offer to defend Saddam did not clash with his bid to become director of a SPL club.

“It’s got nothing to do with it. It’s irrelevant. It’s my professional life, it’s got nothing to do with football.”

Dundee FC has invited Mr Di Stefano to join its board but the move has still to be ratified by the Scottish Football Association.