Baghdad, 16 December 2003 (RFE/RL) -- Saddam Hussein's daughter says his family wants Hussein tried by an international court -- rather than a special tribunal set up by the U.S.-installed Iraqi Governing Council. Raghad Saddam Hussein said the family will engage an attorney to defend her father. Raghad and her sister Rana are living in Amman, Jordan, which granted them asylum in July.
"As the three daughters of Saddam Hussein, we ask for a fair and legitimate trial and not one held by the Iraqi Governing Council because we know who is behind it. We ask for a fair international trial and as daughters of Saddam Hussein we have the right to defend him," Raghad Saddam Hussein said.
Raghad said also that her father appeared in footage that the U.S.-led occupation authority made public on 15 December to have been sedated. Otherwise, she said, he would not have been so meek. As she put it, "He would be a lion even when caged."
His U.S. captors have not disclosed where they are holding Hussein. They say that they are interrogating him at a secure location.
"As the three daughters of Saddam Hussein, we ask for a fair and legitimate trial and not one held by the Iraqi Governing Council because we know who is behind it. We ask for a fair international trial and as daughters of Saddam Hussein we have the right to defend him," Raghad Saddam Hussein said.
Raghad said also that her father appeared in footage that the U.S.-led occupation authority made public on 15 December to have been sedated. Otherwise, she said, he would not have been so meek. As she put it, "He would be a lion even when caged."
His U.S. captors have not disclosed where they are holding Hussein. They say that they are interrogating him at a secure location.