Naomi Campbell testified at the Charles Taylor war crimes trial that she accepted a bag of “dirty looking stones” after she attended a dinner party with the former president of the Libertarian party. The British model took the witness stand at the The Hague in the Netherlands on Thursday, to face claims that she accepted blood diamonds.
The term is used to describe jewels that are sold to jewelers, and are acquired through war or slavery. The gift was from Taylor after a dinner party in South Africa that was hosted by Nelson Mandela in 1997.
She maintains that she did not know where they were from, and was not completely aware of how many diamonds are acquired. She said that she was sleeping, when she heard a knock on her door. She answered, and two men handed her a bag with the stones and said “a gift for you.” They reportedly did not introduce themselves, and Campbell alerted her agents the next morning. Her agents said that the diamonds were obviously from Charles Taylor.
She said that she was extremely tired when she acquired the stones, and that she was not completely sure exactly who they were from.
“There was no explanation, no note. I saw a few stones in there. They were very small, dirty looking stones. When I talked to Ms. White and Ms. Farrow, one of them said they’re obviously diamonds,” Taylor testified.
Prosecutors accused Taylor of using blood diamonds to fund Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war.
