British MP and Saddam Hussein Supporter Refuses to Meet Tortured Iraqi Woman - 2003-04-06

George Galloway, a Labour MP in the UK Parliament who prides himself on his friendship with Saddam Hussein and has been a guest of him in Baghdad several times, previously stated on Al Jazeera addressing Arabs: "Arab governments must fight against the crusader and Christian soldiers attacking their countries." This MP refused to meet with an Iraqi Kurdish woman who had been tortured and raped in Saddam's prisons. Freshta Raper, 37, lives in North London as an exile and teacher and has one child. She lost 21 family members in the chemical bombing of Halabja in 1988 and is herself a victim of Saddam's chemical attacks. Freshta spent the entire last week trying to arrange a meeting with George Galloway, but the MP told her in a phone conversation: "I am very suspicious of you; why do you want to see me?" The Kurdish exile told him she wanted to discuss Saddam Hussein's human rights record. After the MP refused to meet her, Freshta went to Galloway's office in Westminster; however, upon seeing her, Galloway fled through a basement corridor and drove away in his Mercedes. This Kurdish woman had previously participated in a BBC program in a debate with journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, who opposed the war in Iraq. Mr. Galloway stated in his interview last year with an Arabic television: "Will Arabs send troops this time to defend Iraq, or will they allow foreigners and crusaders to attack Iraq from land and sky and ignite a fire in a Muslim country?" After these remarks by the leftist MP, one of the officials in Prime Minister Blair's government said: "It sounds like bin Laden's words." Many people in Glasgow Kelvin, his constituency, told the Times of London: "If he is so fond of Saddam, why doesn't he go live in Baghdad?" Source: Daily Telegraph, Times