On air: Has it taken Naomi Campbell to shed light on blood diamonds?
|11:09 UK time, Thursday, 5 August 2010
Pari in Zurich tweets that his parents 'are watching the Naomi Campbell war crimes trial'. Jez_Horrox replies: 'I must have missed that story, has Naomi Campbell been indicted for war crimes?'
No Jez, she hasn't. But the supermodel has given evidence at the war crimes trial of former Liberian President, Charles Taylor.
Nsarj on twitter was equally surprised: 'I never thought I would see the day that Naomi Campbell and War Crimes Trial would be seen in the same sentence. But here we are.'
A reluctance witness, Naomi Campbell said: "I don't want to be here. I was made to be here... This is an inconvenience to me". Explaining she didn't want to attend because she wanted to protect her family, Ms Campbell initially refused to testify but was subpoenaed by prosecutors.
Naomi Campbell has been giving evidence because she is alleged to have received an uncut 'blood diamond' as a gift from Mr Taylor in South Africa in 1997 after a dinner with Nelson Mandela. She admitted in court that some men she didn't know knocked on her door during the night and handed her a pouch containing some 'dirty looking' stones and that she thought they could be from Charles Taylor.
traxdollhead tweets: 'Naomi Campbell testimony fascinating, beware of knocks on the door at night and pebbles in pouchs.'
The allegation goes to the heart of the case against Mr Taylor for his actions during the civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone. The prosecution hopes to show that Mr Taylor traded weapons with rebel groups there in exchange for so-called blood diamonds.
The model also admitted she had never heard of Liberia or Charles Taylor before meeting him. But as the lawyer in the court replied, lots of other people haven't either.
So does her evidence matter?
yorkierosie complains: 'Naomi Campbell furthering her career, ...in War Crimes Trial. Why the TV/press coverage for her part and not actual crime?!'
But has her evidence, and her appearance at the Hague, helped shed light not only on the trial of Charles Taylor but also the issue of blood diamonds? Have you learnt something? Or do you find the media attention surrounding her appearance distasteful?
Elisa Massimino thinks the supermodel's testimony is important, it:
'matters because how mass atrocities are financed matters. Mass murder doesn't pay for itself. In Taylor's case, prosecutors charge that diamonds financed the purchase of weapons that killed many thousands of people and maimed and terrorized thousands more.
Post your thoughts here:
