A defence lawyer for ousted Iraq president Saddam Hussein wrote to UN chief Kofi Annan Friday calling for the court trying him on charges of crimes against humanity to be moved to The Hague and its Iraqi judges replaced by foreign ones.

"We submit to you our request for your involvement and your good office in the present circumstances to call upon the US authority and the present government of Iraq to review the legal status of the present court and to reallocate the present court outside Iraq, ie the Hague, Netherlands," said the letter to Annan from defence lawyer Najib al-Nawimi.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005