More like this
Charles Taylor ‘gave Naomi a blood diamond’
British supermodel’s name surfaces in the war crimes trial of the former Liberian president
The British supermodel Naomi Campbell has been dragged into the war crimes trial of Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia. Prosecutors in the Hague claimed yesterday that Taylor gave Campbell a "blood diamond".
Taylor, who is on trial for 11 charges including trading weapons to the Sierra Leone rebels, is supposed to have given Campbell the diamond after a 1997 dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela. Other guests at the party included music producer Quincy Jones and the American actress and human rights campaigner Mia Farrow. It was Farrow who revealed that Campbell had received the diamond.
Brenda Hollis, the lead prosecutor in the Hague trial, claimed that Campbell's diamond was among a number of jewels which Taylor had been given in exchange for arms. During his trip to South Africa, Taylor planned to buy weapons from local arms dealers for the Sierra Leone rebels.
"That diamond that you sent to Naomi Campbell," Hollis said to Taylor in her cross-examination, "was one of the diamonds that you had been given by the junta in Sierra Leone. Isn't that correct?"
Charles Taylor replied: "Total, total nonsense."
Hollis then described how, the morning after the dinner, Naomi Campbell had told Farrow about her diamond gift. According to an affidavit from Farrow, Campbell told the actress how some men had come to her after the dinner to give her the diamond, saying it was a present from Taylor.
Taylor's lawyer Courtenay Griffiths objected to the allegation, asking why prosecutors were relying on Farrow's anecdote given that she has seemed biased against Taylor. He said that Farrow had discussed her discomfort at sharing a meal with Taylor with another guest at the dinner, Mandela's future wife Graca Machel.
It is unclear whether Naomi Campbell will make an appearance in the Hague. A spokesperson for Naomi Campbell told ABC News that the supermodel is "assisting" with the prosecution but "beyond that has nothing to add". Campbell's spokesperson would not confirm or deny the diamond story. ·
