Naomi Campbell testimony in Hague postponed

Amsterdam: British supermodel Naomi Campbell has requested a later date for her testimony in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, a spokesman for the Special Court for Sierra Leone said on Friday.

Prosecutors want Campbell to testify over a "blood diamond" they allege Taylor gave her. She was due to appear in court July 29 and the spokesman said the new date "is not expected to be more than a few days later." The prosecution has said Campbell could provide material evidence to rebut Taylor`s claims that he never possessed rough diamonds. They accuse Taylor of taking diamonds to South Africa to buy weapons, which he denies. In January, they said that during a visit to South Africa in 1997 Taylor gave Campbell a large rough cut diamond after a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela. On trial in The Hague, Taylor denies all 11 charges of instigating murder, rape, mutilation, sexual slavery and conscription of child soldiers during wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone in which more than 250,000 people were killed. Bureau Report