Saddam Hussein sues police

Saddam Hussein sues police

JAKARTA (JP): A citizen in Pekalongan, Central Java, who
shares a name with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, is suing the
police for false arrest.

Thirty-year-old Saddam Hussein, who professes to be an admirer
of both the Iraqi leader and late Indonesian president Sukarno,
said he was briefly detained by the police on the accusation that
he had stolen a video cassette recorder found in his electronic
repair shop, Antara reported.

Only later did the police accept his explanation that the
video player really belonged to one of his customers, he said.

But instead of releasing him, the Pekalongan police then dug
out an old file on him which suggested that he had insulted
President Soeharto in 1992.

That case had already been settled by the local military
command in the same year, said Saddam, who was accompanied by
lawyer Girsang Tarigan of the Semarang Legal Aid Institute. (emb)