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Court Outrageously Allows Iraqi Agent to Flee to Syria UN Ambassador al Douri is Material Witness in Judicial Watch Case While the American military continues to nab Iraqi officials attempting to cross the border into Syria, here at home a federal judge allowed a key figure in Hussein’s terror regime to flee the United States. As Baghdad was falling into the hands of American forces, Judicial Watch sought to have Iraqi UN Ambassador Mohammed al Douri detained by the U.S. government but received stiff resistance from administration officials who argued in an emergency telephone hearing for al Douri’s release. Al Douri, who had been residing in New York City, fled first to Paris and then to Damascus, Syria to join together with a number of high Iraqi officials who are said to have received safe haven there. "I am shocked by the decision to let a key Iraqi official flee the United States," said JW Chairman Larry Klayman. "Mr. al Douri is not only of obvious value as a material witness in our case, but as a key advisor to Hussein, he has intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Hussein regime." Judicial Watch was scheduled to depose al Douri in its case on
behalf of survivors and The Bush administration’s chief argument in calling for al
Douri’s release centered around the concept of diplomatic
immunity. However, as Judicial Watch pointed out in a hearing before
the Honorable John S. Martin, Mr. al Douri¹s legal immunity
was nullified by the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty
Act of 1996, which lifted the immunity of terrorist states and their
Judicial Watch is appealing the court’s failure to hold al
Douri in contempt for his refusal to appear at a Judicial Watch
deposition on April 7. He had tried unsuccessfully to refuse personal
service of Judicial Watch’s subpoena on March 29. Rather than
accepting it, he contemptuously threw it to the ground.
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