Gaddafi's daughter joins Saddam legal team

The daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will join Saddam Hussein’s defence team to help the deposed Iraqi dictator fight war crimes charges in court.

Aicha Muammar Gaddafi, a law professor, will form a Libyan law experts team to defend Saddam, said Ziad al-Khasawneh. Mr Al-Khasawneh is also is on the legal team.

“The daughter of the Libyan president is welcomed to join us, and we consider her as an official member of the team,” al-Khasawneh said.

He added that the Jordanian-based multinational defence team had telephoned Muammar Gaddafi to offer their thanks.

Gaddafi’s daughter, in her late 20s, wanted to guarantee Saddam received a “fair trial (based on) the principle that all accused should be presumed innocent until proven guilty”, said a charity association she heads.

Several other Libyan lawyers will join Saddam’s defence team, which already includes lawyers from Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Western countries such as the United States, Britain, France and Belgium, the association said in a statement from its office in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Saddam and 11 other defendants, all former members of the ousted Iraqi regime, faced court in Baghdad for the first time on Thursday on war crimes and genocide charges.

Defence lawyers were not present for the brief hearing.