A defense lawyer for ousted Iraqi 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 U.S. authority and the present government of Iraq to review the legal status of the present court and to reallocate the present court outside Iraq, i.e. The Hague, Netherlands," said the letter to Annan from defence lawyer Najib al-Nawimi. He called for the court to be given "independent and impartial international judges" and also for pressure to be put on the Iraqi authorities and their U.S. backers to recognize Saddam and his co-defendants as prisoners of war.