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Monday, November 30, 1998 Published at 18:04 GMT


UK Politics

Wanted: Saddam Hussein

Indict plans to bring legal action against the Iraqi regime

MPs and human rights campaigners are to unveil a "Wanted" list of Iraqi government politicians they are seeking to indict for crimes against humanity.

And, they told BBC News Online, one of those on the list has already fled to Iraq from Europe to avoid the possibility of extradition as a result.


[ image: Barzan al-Tikriti: Returning to Iraq, despite feud with President Saddam's son]
Barzan al-Tikriti: Returning to Iraq, despite feud with President Saddam's son
Barzan al-Tikriti, the former Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations and a half-brother of President Saddam, was until recently based in Geneva.

At the weekend, he unexpectedly arrived in Ammam, Jordan on his way to Iraq - despite an apparent rift with the eldest son of President Saddam, Uday.

Ann Clwyd MP, who is leading the campaign, said she believed Mr al-Tikriti fled Switzerland in fear of the prospect of arrest following legal proceedings being brought against him.

"I don't think it's any coincidence that he's chosen to return to Iraq, for the first time in almost a decade and despite the very public feud between him and one of Saddam Hussein's sons, at just the time Indict had started proceedings against him," she told BBC News Online.


[ image: Ann Clywd: Leading campaign against those accused of human rights violations]
Ann Clywd: Leading campaign against those accused of human rights violations
Ms Clywd, chairman of the Commons all-party human rights group, also heads the organisation Indict, which has been working to bring international charges against Saddam Hussein and members of his regime.

Indict will reveal its "Wanted" list at a news conference at Westminster on Tuesday.

Among its leading members are Tory MP Andrew Robothan, former diplomat Sir John Morgan, human rights campaigners and representatives of the Iraqi opposition.

Its campaign to bring charges against President Saddam started in January 1997 with the support of then prime minister John Major, Tony Blair and Baroness Thatcher.

Indict recently won support from the US Congress and President Bill Clinton, as well as the UK Foreign Office, for its efforts to bring the Iraqi leader to trial before an international courts or an ad-hoc tribunal.

The "Wanted" list will detail which named individuals of the Iraqi regime Indict is mounting international legal action against, the precise charges against each person, and where they currently are.

Indict believes the case of Chile's General Augusto Pinochet, currently detained in London pending extradition hearings, has added to the impetus behind its campaign and shown that the prospects of bringing "criminal regimes" to justice are real.



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