By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A lawyer for Saddam Hussein and a Jordanian newspaper said on Monday that the former ruler's half brother rejected a purported US offer of a ranking Iraqi government position in exchange for testimony against the deposed leader.
Barzan Ibrahim allegedly made the claim Thursday in a closed-door hearing of the Higher Iraqi Tribunal which is hearing the cases against him, Saddam and five other co-defendants on war crime charges.
The lawyer spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give details of the closed session.
Saddam's chief Iraqi lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, made the same allegations in an interview published Monday in the independent Jordanian daily Al Arab Al Yawm.
Dulaimi and US Embassy officials in Amman were not immediately available for comment.
Dulaimi claimed that Ibrahim said he was "tortured" after rejecting the offer. Ibrahim reportedly accused US troops of stripping in his prison cell, leaving him naked for several hours and refusing to allow him to use the toilet.
The Iraqi lawyer quoted Ibrahim as saying that US forces wanted him to reveal information on $US36 billion, which they believed was under Saddam's control.
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