RAPAPORT… Actress Mia Farrow has disputed Naomi Campbell’s claim that the supermodel did not know the origins of a diamond gift from former Liberian President Charles Taylor.
Farrow testified at The Hague on Monday in the trial being conducted against Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Taylor has been indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in supporting rebels during the civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone, which ended in 2002.
She was summoned by the prosecution after the actress recalled an event in South Africa in 1997, when she says that Campbell told her she received a diamond from Taylor the previous night. The three were attending a charity event hosted by then South African President Nelson Mandela.
Campbell confirmed to the court on Thursday that she was given a “few dirty-looking stones” in South Africa in 1997, but said she did not know if the rough diamonds were sent to her by Taylor. However, Farrow told the court that an “excited” Campbell told her and three of her children that men representing the Liberian president had woken her in the middle of the night and presented her with “a huge diamond.”
Prosecutors are hoping to link Taylor with blood diamonds, as he is accused of supplying rebels with weapons in exchange for diamonds.
LH