‘Iraqis want Saddam to run for election’

AMMAN: Iraqis have asked Saddam Hussein’s defence team to mull the possibility of fielding the ousted dictator as a candidate for future elections, one of his lawyers said in remarks published on Wednesday.

“Iraqis have asked the defence team to study the legal conditions to present Saddam Hussein as a candidate for elections, first as an MP then as president,” Jordan’s Al-Dustour daily quoted former Qatari justice minister Najib al-Nuaimi as saying.

“If this contradicts the legal system then president Saddam will be nominated simply as a candidate,” he said, without specifying if Saddam could try to run in the December 15 election.