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Saddam lawyer seeking consent to prosecute former UK PM Blair for war crimes

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Saddam Hussein's former lawyer on Saturday asked the British attorney general for consent to prosecute former prime minister Tony Blair for violations of the Geneva Conventions. Giovanni di Stefano, who represents former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, sent a letter asking for consent to prosecute Blair after Blair said in a BBC interview aired Sunday that he would have invaded Iraq even if he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction. According to the letter: In summary the allegation against ANTONY CHARLES LYNTON BLAIR involves a violation of offences within the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 which without doubt and by his own admission can only but be deemed "not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly."The attorney general's office has not yet commented on the request.Sir John Chilcot is chairing the Iraq Inquiry, which began investigations in November to determine the legality of the Iraq War. Last month, a letter leaked to the Iraq Inquiry indicated that former UK attorney general Peter Goldsmith warned Blair that the planned invasion of Iraq could be illegal. Earlier in November, documents implicating improper and possibly illegal conduct in relation to the war were leaked to the British press. In October, a UK High Court criticized the Ministry of Defence for its failure to properly set up an independent inquiry into claims that war crimes had been committed by British soldiers following the so-called "Battle of Danny Boy" in southern Iraq.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on December 14, 2009 (boomark / email).