AMMAN - The lawyer leading Saddam Hussein's defence team dismissed as baseless Sunday charges that the deposed leader's wife and eldest daughter supported the insurgency in Iraq.
Sajida and Raghad Hussein were named on a new list of 41 "most wanted" people accused of supporting the insurgency, and whose extradition Iraq has demanded.
"These accusations are totally without legal basis, and the laws of Interpol are not a game in the hands of a certain party since they do not apply to (Saddam's daughter) Raghad or Sajida (his wife)," lead counsel Khalil al-Dulaimi said in Amman.
He accused the United States of "choosing to decide who it calls terrorists... but one has to ask who the real world terrorist is who violates the sovereignty of states".
Dulaimi, chosen by Raghad to lead her father's defence team at the Iraqi High Tribunal in Baghdad, said Saddam's daughter "enjoys the hospitality of Jordan, a true Arab hospitality that is humanitarian and not political". Raghad Hussein "respects this hospitality and its limits", the lawyer said, adding that "if she had financial means she would have financially supported the defence team".
"It is her legal right as daughter of the president to follow her father's trial," Dulaimi said.
"She follows the lawyers' actions sometimes, not always, because her family duties mean she must stay at home," he added.
"She has no contact with anyone else," he insisted.
Dulaimi also said that Saddam's wife "is more than 69 years old and is undergoing medical treatment".
"She stays at home and enjoys the hospitality of His Highness the Emir of Qatar," he said.
"I can assure you that Madame Sajida is alone in her house and has no contact with anyone, not even the lawyers" of her husband, he said.
Releasing the new "most wanted" list in Baghdad Sunday, Iraqi national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie told reporters: "These people are responsible for most of the bombings and indiscriminate killings aimed at hurting the Iraqi people and starting a sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites."
Raghad Hussein is number 16 on the list and Sajida is number 17.
"Neighbouring countries must help Iraq and hand over those terrorists living within their territories," Rubaie said, referring to Saddam's family members and his former top lieutenants still on the run.
The list described Raghad Hussein as a "significant financial supporter of insurgents in Iraq."
Sajida was believed to be a major source of "guidance, logistical support and funding for Iraq's insurgent leadership and has access to substantial assets stolen by Saddam."
Dulaimi said "this uproar has well-defined aims, for it comes after a series of attacks on (Saddam's) defence lawyers who were accused of making millions of dollars even though their motives are benevolent".
He said the defence team's only revenue was "basic fees donated by benefactors in the Arab world, but these are insufficient to cover its needs".
Neither Jordan nor Qatar has yet responded to Baghdad's request for Raghad and Sajida Hussein to be returned to Iraq.
07/02/2006 18:02