BEIJING, Oct. 10 -- A Brazilian court will consider a psychic's claim that the U.S. Government owes him a US$25 million reward for information he says he provided on the hiding place of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

    Brazil¡¯s second-highest court, the Superior Court of Justice, decided the Brazilian justice system could rule on the matter and told a court in the psychic¡¯s home state of Minas Gerais to judge the case.

    The lower court had earlier told Jucelino Nobrega da Luz it could not take up his claim and it would have to be judged in the United States, but the higher tribunal ruled otherwise.

    ¡°The Minas Gerais court will work with the claim,¡± said a spokesman for the Superior Court of Justice.

    Jucelino da Luz alleges that the U.S. armed forces only found Saddam based on his letters that provided his exact location, the very hole where he was hiding in Iraq. So he filed a court case to claim the reward.

    The U.S. Government offered the award for Saddam in July 2003 after the U.S.-led forces occupied the country. He was captured in December of the same year.

    The court said Da Luz sent letters to the U.S. Government from September 2001, describing Saddam¡¯s future hiding place ¡ª a tiny cellar at a farmhouse near Tikrit. He never received a reply.

    ¡°His lawyers attest that the author has an uncommon gift of having visions of things that will come to pass. ... Via dreams, he sees situations, facts that will happen in the future,¡± a court statement said.

    In case the court upholds the claim, it will be sent via diplomatic channels to the U.S. State Department. Enditem

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)