Why did you choose to join the defence team for Saddam Hussein’s war crimes trial?
I studied law and I felt duty bound to defend anyone who feels he is wrongly accused. The reason I felt so commited was because there was so much of a campaign to discredit him in the media – pictures of him wearing underwear, having his teeth checked and so on. It was all designed to make him look inhumane. I also felt a drive to defend the Iraqi people. But wasn’t Saddam guilty? Let me put it this way. If you want to talk about the crimes that they claim Saddam committed, let’s talk about what is taking place in Iraq. More than 1 million Iraqis have been killed, and the whole civilisation of Iraq has been wiped out. Did you actually go to Baghdad for the trial? It was supposed to be very dangerous. Several of Saddam’s defence lawyers were killed. Unfortunately not, no. My family was too concerned about safety. My role was to contact the hundreds of lawyers involved and give them advice. You actually met Saddam once, didn’t you? What was he like? Yes, it was on my own initiative throu
