Saying she had “nothing to gain,” supermodel Naomi Campbell denied providing false testimony at the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is accused of receiving blood diamonds.
“I’ve no motive here. Nothing to gain,” she said in a statement released in London late on Tuesday.
The model defended her testimony after her former agent, Carole White, and US actress Mia Farrow told judges this week that Campbell had accepted a gift of diamonds from Taylor and boasted about it the next day.
Farrow said Campbell had named Taylor as the man who sent her a “huge diamond.”
This contradicted Campbell’s testimony on Thursday last week at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, in which the model said she was not certain about the identity of the person who sent her the parcel of gems.
In her statement on Tuesday, the 40-year-old model did, however, concede that she had slipped up when she told judges during her testimony that coming to court was a “big inconvenience,” adding that: “I am a black woman who has and will always support good causes especially relating to Africa.”
According to White, the supermodel’s agent at the time, Campbell and Taylor had flirted throughout a charity dinner hosted by South Africa’s then-president Nelson Mandela in Pretoria in September 1997.
At one point, “she told me: ‘he is going to give me some diamonds,’” White said in her testimony on Monday. “She was very excited.”
Defending Taylor, lawyer Courtenay Griffiths on Tuesday branded White’s account a “complete pack of lies.”
On Monday, Griffiths also sought to discredit Farrow.
“Mia Farrow sees herself as the modern-day Mother Theresa to Africa,” he told a press conference. “She does not have an open mind so far as Charles Taylor is concerned. She is looking for sainthood.”
Australia has announced an agreement with the tiny Pacific nation Nauru enabling it to send hundreds of immigrants to the barren island. The deal affects more than 220 immigrants in Australia, including some convicted of serious crimes. Australian Minister of Home Affairs Tony Burke signed the memorandum of understanding on a visit to Nauru, the government said in a statement on Friday. “It contains undertakings for the proper treatment and long-term residence of people who have no legal right to stay in Australia, to be received in Nauru,” it said. “Australia will provide funding to underpin this arrangement and support Nauru’s long-term economic
‘NEO-NAZIS’: A minister described the rally as ‘spreading hate’ and ‘dividing our communities,’ adding that it had been organized and promoted by far-right groups Thousands of Australians joined anti-immigration rallies across the country yesterday that the center-left government condemned, saying they sought to spread hate and were linked to neo-Nazis. “March for Australia” rallies against immigration were held in Sydney, and other state capitals and regional centers, according to the group’s Web site. “Mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together,” the Web site said. The group posted on X on Saturday that the rallies aimed to do “what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration.” The group also said it was concerned about culture,
ANGER: Unrest worsened after a taxi driver was killed by a police vehicle on Thursday, as protesters set alight government buildings across the nation Protests worsened overnight across major cities of Indonesia, far beyond the capital, Jakarta, as demonstrators defied Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s call for calm. The most serious unrest was seen in the eastern city of Makassar, while protests also unfolded in Bandung, Surabaya, Solo and Yogyakarta. By yesterday morning, crowds had dispersed in Jakarta. Troops patrolled the streets with tactical vehicles and helped civilians clear trash, although smoke was still rising in various protest sites. Three people died and five were injured in Makassar when protesters set fire to the regional parliament building during a plenary session on Friday evening, according to
CRACKDOWN: The Indonesian president vowed to clamp down on ‘treason and terrorism,’ while acceding to some protest demands to revoke lawmaker benefits Protests in Indonesia over rising living costs and inequality intensified overnight, prompting Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to cancel a planned trip to China, while demonstrators reportedly targeted the homes of the finance minister and several lawmakers. Rioters entered Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati’s residence near Jakarta early yesterday, but were repelled by armed forces personnel, Kompas reported. Items were taken from the homes of lawmaker Ahmad Sahroni and two others, according to Detik.com. The reports of looting could not be independently verified, and the finance ministry has not responded to requests for comment. The protests were sparked by outrage over
RSS