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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Brit Lawyer duped into Saddam’s defence team quits protesting ’bad image’ |
| 2004-07-07 |
| The West Country solicitor defending Saddam Hussein announced yesterday that he was stepping down amid reports that his partners were upset about the adverse publicity his involvement was generating. As mainly a divorce specialist, Tim Hughes, 36, seemed an unlikely candidate to be the only British member of the former Iraqi strongman’s international defence team. For one thing, he had no previous experience of a case involving a political prisoner, although last year he did successfully defend a gamekeeper accused of using illegal poisons. Ho ho ho. Mr Hughes was recruited to the 20-strong team by Emmanuel Ludot, a French advocate hired by Saddam’s family, who he got to know during a year working for a Paris law firm. But yesterday, barely a week after landing a role in the world’s most high-profile criminal trial, Mr Hughes said that he wanted nothing more to do with it. In a statement, he admitted flying to Jordan last week at the invitation of Mr Ludot for what he thought was a conference about the legal issues surrounding Saddam’s detention and trial. But "when I arrived I found myself plunged into a strategy review with Saddam Hussein’s defence committee," he said. To make matters worse, Mr Hughes was then - apparently unwittingly - cast in the role of the defence’s press spokesman. "Calls were coming in from the world’s media," he said. "I was the only natural English speaker there, so they asked me to deal with a call from the BBC and then to be the group’s spokesman." It was this media attention which appears to have so upset his colleagues back at Bevan Ashford in Tiverton, Devon. The firm specialises in commercial matters rather than criminal ones. And although it boasts that its clients include "many household names", it has evidently decided that a line had to be drawn at the world’s most infamous tyrant. On his return from Jordan, Mr Hughes was summoned to a meeting with his partners at which it was decided that his "involvement was going beyond the original purpose of his visit". "I shall not be going out there again," he said. A spokesman for Bevan Ashford yesterday denied that there had been a "showdown" with Mr Hughes. "We are looking at internal procedures to see if there are any lessons to be learnt," he said. He stressed that neither Mr Hughes nor the firm had ever taken on Saddam Hussein as a client. "The matter is now closed." Yesterday, Mr Hughes, a father of three, was back on more familiar territory at Exeter magistrates’ court representing a woman accused of stealing £30 of picture frames from Cancer Research UK. Not Scrappleface! It’s true, apparently. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
| #3 The West Country solicitor defending Saddam Hussein announced yesterday that he was stepping down amid reports that his partners were upset about the adverse publicity his involvement was generating. [...] A spokesman for Bevan Ashford yesterday denied that there had been a "showdown" with Mr Hughes. "We are looking at internal procedures to see if there are any lessons to be learnt," he said. How about asking beforehand about the scope of your involvement, and the possible consequences thereof? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-07-07 3:09:28 PM |
| #2 I'm surprised he wouldn't treat this as an opportunity. Lots of lawyers have specialty practices built around divorce, ambulance chasing, class action and other lucrative areas. The whole idea of a strongman dictator who uses a country and its people as his own personal Walmart/whorehouse is soooo last millennium. As the desire for self-determination spreads, more of these thugs are going to be tossed out. SH mentions a list of likely near-term candidates. Considering that most of them have huge piles of money stashed away, it should be a lawyerly bonanza. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2004-07-07 2:47:25 PM |
| #1 "I was surprised at the negative reaction that my choice to defend the Butcher of Baghdad has elecitted." He's probably direct mailing Aristide, Chuck Taylor, Lit'l Kim and Bob Mugabe as this posts. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-07-07 11:39:59 AM |