NAOMI Campbell has requested draconian measures to guard her privacy this week at The Hague.
The supermodel is due to testify at the war crimes trial of a former African dictator, who is alleged to have given her a “blood diamond”.
Campbell has retained Ken Macdonald, Britain’s former director of public prosecutions, who is asking the court to impose special “protective measures” while she is in The Netherlands.
Lord Macdonald has asked that he be able to speak on her behalf while she is in the witness box, raising the possibility that he might seek to prevent her from saying anything incriminating.
In a confidential submission to the judges, Lord Macdonald has asked the UN special court and the Dutch government to ban the public and the media from following or filming the model during her “transit” to the hearing.
He has asked the court to order that “members of the public, the media, the parties and the court not follow, photograph, video-record or sketch Campbell’s transit to the court within The Netherlands and that the government of The Netherlands be respectfully invited to assist in the enforcement of this protective measure”. Lord Macdonald has asked for a blanket ban on the disclosure of information “of any sort” about Campbell relating to her court appearance, other than that revealed in her public testimony.
He wants the court to compile a log of the names and addresses of everyone who receives any information from her so that they can be warned of the gagging order. The material should then be destroyed or returned to the court registry at the end of the case.
The British model has been subpoenaed to testify at the trial of Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, who is in prison in The Hague, the first African leader to face trial for war crimes.
Prosecutors allege that Taylor was involved in trafficking “blood diamonds” – selling arms to rebels in Sierra Leone in exchange for the diamonds.
Prosecutors have been told Campbell accepted a blood diamond from Taylor in 1997.
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