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View Full Version : Iran 'backing plot to kill Saddam in prison cell'



lucky wilbury
05-03-2005, 12:30 PM
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=472032005

Iran 'backing plot to kill Saddam in prison cell'

JAMAL HALABY


IRAQI politicians backed by Iran have been plotting to assassinate Saddam Hussein in his jail cell, the ousted dictator’s chief lawyer claimed yesterday.

Ziad al-Khasawneh said he based his information on a message allegedly sent by a former Iraqi government official addressed to Saddam’s Jordan-based legal team and posted on a pro-Saddam website.

"We have received information that certain political parties in Iraq supported by Iran are plotting to assassinate President Saddam Hussein," Mr al-Khasawneh said.

However, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s national security adviser, dismissed the accusations, describing them as a ploy to have Saddam moved out of the country.

"They want to make it as an excuse to transfer Saddam Hussein outside the country for him to face an international tribunal instead of an Iraqi one," he said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which regularly visits Saddam at his detention centre near Baghdad’s international airport, said it knew nothing about the alleged murder plot.

Saddam, who was captured in December 2003, is facing charges including killing rival politicians during his 30-year rule, using chemical weapons on the Kurds, invading Kuwait in 1990 and suppressing Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991. He is to be tried before a special Iraqi tribunal, which has not released a date for the start of the hearings.

Mr al-Khasawneh said the warning he had seen suggested Iraqi politicians had dispatched a man to Iran to train to assassinate Saddam.

"The scenario is to have the man become the personal guard of the president in jail, where he would assassinate him," he said.

He said the United States must transfer Saddam "to a safe place under the supervision of the United Nations".

Five days ago, Saddam met one of his lawyers, who reported that the deposed leader was in good health and high spirits. The meeting, the second with Saddam in four months, lasted six hours.

Saddam’s legal team includes 1,500 volunteers and at least 22 leading lawyers from several countries, including the US, France, Jordan and Libya.

steve
05-04-2005, 09:07 AM
Change that to:
Iraqi politicians backed by Iran backed by Cheney and Rumsfeld plot to assassinate Saddam and I find it much more believable.