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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview with Raghad Hussein

Aired December 20, 2003 - 07:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Saddam's oldest daughter says if he is to be put on trial, she wants him tried in an international court, not in an Iraqi court.
In an exclusive interview, Raghad Hussein, who now lives in Jordan, spoke with CNN's Rym Brahimi about her father, his future and his capture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did you expect him to be captured in this way? Did you expect him to surrender?

RAGHAD HUSSEIN, SADDAM'S DAUGHTER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): My personal expectation is that one of the people he relied on must have put something in his food or that there was a military technique of some sort of gas that can drug a person, because I know my father and he would never surrender.

BRAHIMI: But he came out saying, "I'm the Iraqi president and I want to surrender," according to reports.

HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): But whoever saw and heard it, if it were true, why didn't they film the capture as they claimed it happened in the media? It was an event they had been waiting for for a long time. They supposedly should have filmed it from the beginning.

BRAHIMI: Were you ever in contact with your father in the past few months before his capture?

HUSSEIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

BRAHIMI: And since he's been captured, have you been able to talk to him?

HUSSEIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

BRAHIMI: Are you planning to try and find a way of getting in touch with him or...

HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): All that will be determined in the coming days. This is a difficult issue that cannot be judged at this point. We're up against a powerful entity that has its influences, including its influence on the media. The future steps and the way to conduct this should be handled in a legal matter. BRAHIMI: You've been very clearly following everything that's been said. You've been reading the newspapers, watching television and, you know, seeing the pictures of what people are saying in Iraq and outside of Iraq. You mentioned that you didn't think he should be tried in Iraq itself, that you wanted him -- you wanted him to be tried in a different kind of setting.

Can you be more specific? Why don't you want him to be tried in Iraq? What worries you?

HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): My father is Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq, the legal and elected president, who spent a long time in power. And he represents the sovereignty of the country, an independent country with a constitution. The Iraqi constitution, Article 40, dictates against prosecuting the president in this manner. I, along with my mother and my siblings, absolutely refuse that he be prosecuted in Baghdad. God willing, he will succeed legally in preventing that.

BRAHIMI: Do you think he wouldn't get a fair trial if he were in Iraq?

HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): He won't get a fair trial because he will be prosecuted by an entity that is still not recognized. And the current transitional government is still not recognized, neither internationally nor in the Arab world. So by what legal right will the trial be conducted?

BRAHIMI: What would you want to see? What kind of justice or what kind of tribunal would you want to see happen, if you had a say?

HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I want a fair trial under the supervision of the international community. We, his daughters, have the right to appoint an attorney to defend him. This is the right of every being.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: And you can see more of this exclusive interview tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 20, 2003 - 07:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Saddam's oldest daughter says if he is to be put on trial, she wants him tried in an international court, not in an Iraqi court.
In an exclusive interview, Raghad Hussein, who now lives in Jordan, spoke with CNN's Rym Brahimi about her father, his future and his capture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did you expect him to be captured in this way? Did you expect him to surrender?

RAGHAD HUSSEIN, SADDAM'S DAUGHTER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): My personal expectation is that one of the people he relied on must have put something in his food or that there was a military technique of some sort of gas that can drug a person, because I know my father and he would never surrender.

BRAHIMI: But he came out saying, "I'm the Iraqi president and I want to surrender," according to reports.

HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): But whoever saw and heard it, if it were true, why didn't they film the capture as they claimed it happened in the media? It was an event they had been waiting for for a long time. They supposedly should have filmed it from the beginning.

BRAHIMI: Were you ever in contact with your father in the past few months before his capture?

HUSSEIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

BRAHIMI: And since he's been captured, have you been able to talk to him?

HUSSEIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

BRAHIMI: Are you planning to try and find a way of getting in touch with him or...

HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): All that will be determined in the coming days. This is a difficult issue that cannot be judged at this point. We're up against a powerful entity that has its influences, including its influence on the media. The future steps and the way to conduct this should be handled in a legal matter. BRAHIMI: You've been very clearly following everything that's been said. You've been reading the newspapers, watching television and, you know, seeing the pictures of what people are saying in Iraq and outside of Iraq. You mentioned that you didn't think he should be tried in Iraq itself, that you wanted him -- you wanted him to be tried in a different kind of setting.

Can you be more specific? Why don't you want him to be tried in Iraq? What worries you?

HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): My father is Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq, the legal and elected president, who spent a long time in power. And he represents the sovereignty of the country, an independent country with a constitution. The Iraqi constitution, Article 40, dictates against prosecuting the president in this manner. I, along with my mother and my siblings, absolutely refuse that he be prosecuted in Baghdad. God willing, he will succeed legally in preventing that.

BRAHIMI: Do you think he wouldn't get a fair trial if he were in Iraq?

HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): He won't get a fair trial because he will be prosecuted by an entity that is still not recognized. And the current transitional government is still not recognized, neither internationally nor in the Arab world. So by what legal right will the trial be conducted?

BRAHIMI: What would you want to see? What kind of justice or what kind of tribunal would you want to see happen, if you had a say?

HUSSEIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I want a fair trial under the supervision of the international community. We, his daughters, have the right to appoint an attorney to defend him. This is the right of every being.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: And you can see more of this exclusive interview tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com