Jacques Verges, whose former clients include ex-Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie and the terrorist Carlos "the Jackal" Ramirez Sanchez, said in Paris that he had been asked to defend Saddam.

Verges said he feared for Saddam's life and warned that occupation forces must not be allowed to kill him "to avoid a trial in which their liability will become apparent."

Verges, 79, said he had received a letter from Saddam's nephew, Ali Barzan al-Tikriti, giving him the task.

Verges has taken on the task of defending former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, who surrendered to U.S. forces in April 2003.

More recently he became vice president of the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic and represented the former Yugoslav president before the European Court of Human Rights.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 3, 2004
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