London, Jun 02: Britain has not received asylum applications from two daughters of Saddam Hussein, the government said today following a published report that the women hope to move here. Two of Saddam's three daughters - Raghad and Rana – are living with their nine children in a home in Baghdad, which has no electric power, according to a report in a pan-Arabic daily.
The newspaper quoted Izzi-din Mohammed Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of the deposed Iraqi President, as saying he would return to London in a week to try to help the women get asylum in Britain. Any such application would be highly sensitive for Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, which has been trying to significantly cut the number of asylum-seekers reaching Britain.
"We have not received any application," said a spokesman for the home office, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Under the Geneva Convention, the UK is not required to offer asylum to known war criminals or those who have breached the human rights of others, but I am not saying that this would apply in these two cases," the spokesman said.
The women could get in touch with the British mission, which recently opened in Baghdad, he said.
"It would be highly unusual for someone to try to claim asylum from overseas. It's not completely unfeasible, but it's not likely," he said.
"If someone has traveled through several different safe countries, you have to doubt the sincerity of their claim," the home office official said. Bureau Report