Mia Farrow disputes Naomi Campbell’s ‘blood diamond’ story

LONDON - American actress Mia Farrow has disputed British supermodel Naomi Campbell’s claim under oath that she did not know the origin of the gems.

The actress appeared at the trial of Charles Taylor, who is facing charges by the UN for war crimes for his role in supporting brutal rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone’s civil war between 1996 and 2002.

The 65-year-old actress told the court in The Hague that Campbell told her, and three of her children, that men, representing Taylor, had given her a diamonds, or diamonds, following a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela in 1997.

She also told dining companions that Taylor had given her a gift of diamonds.

“Naomi Campbell joined us and before she even sat down she recounted the events of the evening. She said that in the night she had been awakened. Some men were knocking at her door. They were sent by Charles Taylor and they had given her a huge diamond,” The Telegraph quoted Farrow as saying.

“Naomi Campbell said they came from Charles Taylor,” she added.

Campbell, giving sworn testimony to the UN war crimes court, had insisted that she did not know the identity of two men who gave her three “dirty looking pebbles” following the charity event in Pretoria.

Prosecutors and UN judges pressed Farrow three times on whether the British model had said the diamonds came from the African warlord, something Campbell repeatedly denied.

Farrow attended the dinner, a charity event to raise money for Mandela’s children’s charity, with two of her sons and a daughter.

“I did not see the diamonds. I can only tell you what Naomi Campbell said. That’s what I recall to the best of my abilities,” Farrow said. (ANI)