Sister smells drugs

Dubai, Dec. 16 (Reuters): Saddam Hussein’s sister said yesterday her brother would never have surrendered meekly and that US forces must have used drugs or gas to paralyse him.

“Saddam Hussein, hero of Arabs, would never surrender like this. He must have been subjected to drugs or nerve gas to paralyse him, for he is not one to surrender in this humiliating manner,” Nawal Ibrahim al-Hasan told London-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi by telephone from an unidentified Arab capital.

Al-Hasan said Arab leaders should ensure her brother had a fair trial in an international court and not in Iraq, a demand echoed by Saddam’s daughter Raghad today. “We want an international, fair and legal trial,” Raghad told Dubai-based Al Arabiya television from Jordan, adding his family would appoint a lawyer to defend him.

Jordan papers

Amman (AFP): Jordanian newspaper commentators charged today that Saddam Hussein had been “drugged” during his capture by US troops and denounced the humiliating images distributed by the US army. “It is clear that the man was taken by surprise and he was drugged during his capture, first with a certain gas and then he was administered a type of drug that disoriented him,” one commentator said in the al-Dustour newspaper. Another Jordanian weekly Al-Sabeel said: “The US is known for producing mind-boggling Hollywood movies that takes one’s breath away.”

Iran ire

Tehran (Reuters): Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would suffer the same fate as the former Iraqi leader. “Now that he has been captured, the Islamic world and all those who know what a savage animal he was feel delighted,” Khamenei said in his first public comments since the capture of Saddam Hussein. But Khamenei also used Saddam’s downfall to take a swipe at Iran’s two other great political enemies — the US and Israel. “I heard the US President saying the world is a better place without Saddam. I want the US President to know that a world without Bush and Sharon is a much better place,” he said.

Message aid

Jerusalem (AFP): The Palestinian pro-government daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, published today a paid for message of solidarity with toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The note, bearing Saddam’s picture on its left hand side, read: “Comrades and friends of the Baath party in Hebron declare their solidarity with comrade leader Saddam Hussein.” “Comrade hero, you shall remain a symbol of Arab dignity in Palestinian eyes,” concluded the message.