STOCKHOLM, Sweden, June 12 (UPI) -- A lawyer for Saddam Hussein says the deposed Iraqi dictator's upcoming trial should be held in Europe.
London-based attorney Giovanni Di Stefano told a Swedish television interviewer Sunday the defense team would prefer a trial be held in Sweden, Austria, Switzerland or The Hague, Netherlands, Al-Jazeera reported.
Di Stefano told the Swedish television network SVT Iraq was not safe.
"In the unlikely event that our client is tried and convicted," said Di Stefano, "he can go straight to a detention center in Sweden."
Al-Jazeera said the Swedish Foreign Ministry had no comment on the report late Sunday.
Lawyers for Saddam said last week the Iraqi government had not yet notified them as to a trial date. Ziad al-Khasawneh, the Jordanian lawyer who leads Saddam's team, told United Press International the group had heard through the media that Saddam's trial will take place within the next two months.
Di Stefano said the defense plans to argue that Saddam is immune to prosecution under the Iraqi constitution.
"The constitution of Iraq was deposited with the United Nations in 1969. It was accepted and it was ratified and to this day it has not been altered," he said. "We avail ourselves to sovereign immunity, end of story."