Spiritual mentor to tell of relationship with Dr Kelly

LONDON: An American woman who became David Kelly’s spiritual mentor and introduced him to the Bahai faith will issue a statement this week about her relationship with the dead British expert on Iraqi weapons, The Times newspaper said Wednesday.

Mai Pederson, 43, has hired a leading lawyer in Washington following reports that she may be called to give evidence at a judicial inquiry in London into Kelly’s July suicide.

“I will very likely be issuing a statement from Pederson this week,” Mark Zaid, a partner in law firm Krieger and Zaid, told The Times. Pederson, an Arab-American military linguist met Kelly five years ago while working as his translator during a United Nations arms inspection mission to Iraq.

Government scientist Kelly was the source of a hotly denied BBC report on May 29 that Downing Street had “sexed up” its dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to rally support for Britain going to war against Saddam. —AFP

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