World News 26-05-2005 Saddam In His Pants who: Saddam Hussein what: Photographed in his underpants in newspaper scoop where: Iraq when: Last week snippet: "He was once the world`s most feared despot with the blood of innocent thousands on his murderous hands," wrote defence editor Tom Newton Dunn in last Friday`s Sun as the paper published its world exclusive photographs in a joint scoop with sister publication The New York Post. "Now Saddam Hussein is reduced to shuffling around his prison compound in his underpants and washing his own dirty socks in a simple bowl." "A front-page photograph showed the toppled Iraqi leader in his prison cell in Y-front white underwear," says Eben Harrell in The Scotsman. "Other shots showed Saddam in a white frock hand-washing his laundry and a close up of him asleep in his cell. A US military statement vowed to uncover the origins of the photographs, saying they contravened Saddam`s rights as a prisoner and could have violated the Geneva Convention on the humane treatment of prisoners." "Defending the decision to publish, the Sun`s managing editor Graham Dudman said the pictures were `an extraordinary scoop` that had attracted the attention of the world`s media," says the BBC. "We are astonished that some people seem more concerned about Saddam Hussein doing his own laundry when he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children," says Dudman. "Journalistically, it was a great scoop," agrees Philippe Naughton in The Sun`s London sister publication, The Times. "The picture, grainy and probably snatched on a mobile phone, is the first to appear of Saddam since a 26-minute court appearance last July." But, he argues, the fact that Saddam "is awaiting trial for alleged crimes against humanity is beside the point, legally. Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention of 1929 is clear enough: `Prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity`." Meanwhile, in another bloody day for Iraq, a series of attacks killed at least 26 people and wounded another 130 on Monday, according to The Scotsman`s Michael Georgy, while The Observer`s foreign affairs editor, Peter Beaumont, says a 41 year-old Lieutenant Colonel who received the Distinguished Service Order for his service in Iraq "is under investigation over events that led to the death in custody of an Iraqi civilian whose family has alleged in the High Court that he was beaten to death by British troops". Senior officers in the Queen`s Lancashire Regiment are concerned that Jorge Mendonca, 41, "is being made a `scapegoat` for the actions of others. His friends were also quoted as saying that Mendonca is `furious, confused and scared` by the claims, which he refutes". [... more]

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