Concord Times (Freetown)
Sahr Musa Yamba And Tanu Jalloh
23 June 2006
Charles Taylor is currently held incommunicado at The Hague, Karim Khan, defense counsel for the accused revealed at a Special Court status conference Wednesday.
Khan, while addressing the conference submitted his client was transferred to The Hague "precipitously." The defense counsel complained that he was not even contacted by the Special Court when his client was taken away to The Hague. "I have not been officially contacted by the court whether my client arrived safely in The Hague. I have been asked by his family members but my response was I don't know," Khan submitted. "I only saw my client arriving in The Hague when I tuned to CNN," he said. Khan revealed that he has not been able to get access to his client since his transfer to The Hague Tuesday. Taylor's defense council revealed he called The ICC in The Hague demanding to speak to his client but was refused. "I was told sorry, Taylor is not allowed to receive or make telephone calls," Khan said. He pleaded with the court to ensure that Taylor is allowed to make and receive telephone calls as he used to do while in detention in Freetown.
"It cannot be right if the accused in Sierra Leone have such facilities while my client is deprived of that," Khan submitted adding, "the accused is currently presumed innocent." Khan asked the Trial Chamber 11, to ensure that family members of Charles Taylor are granted visas to see him. He emphasized that there are no Dutch Embassies in Sierra Leone or Guinea and the nearest is in Accra, Ghana.
Reacting to the submissions of Karim Khan, Assistant Prosecutor, Harpinder Athwal submitted it was proper for enquiries to be made why the defense counsel had no contacts with the accused since his transfer to The Hague.
Athwal however challenged that issuing of visas to family members of the accused is not a fundamental right of the accused person.
Presiding Judge, Richard Lussick said the court would take decisions on the concerns raised later.
Meanwhile, Special Court Deputy Chief of Press and Public Affairs, Peter Andersen Wednesday confirmed during a press briefing at the offices of the Sierra Leone News Agency (SLENA) on Lightfoot Boston Street that former Liberian president, Charles Taylor's trial still remains under the Court's Rules.
"While the Taylor trial will take place in a courtroom of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, it will be a trial of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, as permitted under the Special Court's Rules," he says adding that the headquarters of the Special court remain in Freetown, where three other trials are continuing.
Taylor was Tuesday taken by a United Nations helicopter from the Special Court compound in the morning hours and flown to Lungi International Airport, where he was transferred under heavy UN security to a chattered jet and was subsequently flown out of the country.
Responding to questions from the press, Special Assistant to the Prosecutor, Harpinder Athwal explained United Kingdom's offer to host Taylor if convicted; "the offer of the Dutch government to allow Taylor's trial to take place in The Hague is conditional upon a third country agreeing to host Taylor if he is convicted. The UK has agreed to allow Taylor to serve a prison sentence there should he be convicted by the Special Court," she averred maintaining that the offer is without prejudice to the eventual outcome of the trial, which has not yet been decided.
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