Jordan has indirectly asked Saddam Hussein's two daughters to stay out of politics after U.S. forces captured the former Iraqi president earlier this month.

Jordan has indirectly asked Saddam Hussein's two daughters to stay out of politics after U.S. forces captured the former Iraqi president earlier this month. Raghd is seen during an interview with the Al-Arabiya satellite television August 1, 2003.   [Reuters]

]Government spokeswoman Asma Khader told Reuters Wednesday Raghd and Rana, who had taken refuge in Amman in August, should not use Jordan as a platform to make political statements to the media.

"We are not asking them to abstain from meeting the press, but we hope their future statements are of a humanitarian nature and not politically inclined," Khader said.

Saddam's daughters have made several comments to the press from Amman, where they live in a palace belonging to Jordan's King Abdullah, who granted them asylum.

The former Iraqi strongman's eldest daughter Raghd recently told Dubai-based Al Arabiya television that the sisters wanted an international court to try their father.

She said the Iraqi Governing Council should not be allowed to try Saddam because it was appointed by U.S. occupiers.

Khader said the government had not made any formal demands on the sisters but conveyed the message through the press.

"They should respect the stances and commitments of their host country," she said, adding that the sisters were free to leave the country whenever they wanted.

Raghd and Rana fled Iraq to Jordan shortly after U.S.-led forces occupied Baghdad. Their husbands were killed in 1996 when they returned to Iraq after briefly defecting to Jordan.

Saddam is believed to have ordered the killing of both sons-in-law upon their return to Iraq, after accusing them of giving information on the country's weapons to the West.

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