Naomi Campbell testifies at Charles Taylor’s war crimes trial

Supermodel Naomi Campbell traded the catwalk for the witness stand Thursday as she acknowledged accepting a gift of “dirty-looking stones” that war crimes prosecutors say were uncut diamonds from former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor.

Prosecutors say the gems offer proof that Taylor engaged in the trade of illegally mined “conflict diamonds” to help arm rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war. Thousands of civilians were killed or mutilated during the fighting. Taylor stands accused of crimes against humanity before a tribunal in The Hague.

Campbell, who met the then-Liberian president in 1997, was a reluctant witness at the trial, compelled to appear under threat of being found in contempt of court. On the witness stand, the model with a reputation for impetuous and aggressive behavior made her unwillingness plain.

“I was made to be here. So obviously, I’m just, like, wanting to get this over with and get on with my life,” Campbell told the court. “This is a big inconvenience for me.”

She was made to stay for two hours, grilled about her meeting with Taylor at a charity dinner hosted by then-South African President Nelson Mandela and events at her hotel later that night.

“When I was sleeping, I had a knock at my door. And I opened my door, and two men were there and gave me a pouch and said, ‘A gift for you,’ ” Campbell testified. “I saw a few stones in there, and they were very small, dirty-looking stones.”

Campbell told the court she did not recognize them as diamonds, which she was more accustomed to seeing “shiny in a box.”

Campbell says she had no idea that the stones were from Taylor, as the prosecution alleges. She maintains that she passed them along to a friend who worked for a children’s charity connected to Mandela, asking that he use them to do something good. The charity denies ever receiving them.

American actress Mia Farrow, who was also at the dinner in Pretoria, South Africa, has said that, on the following morning, Campbell told of receiving the diamonds. Farrow says she told the supermodel that they were almost certainly from Taylor.

The former Liberian leader is accused of arming and training rebels from Sierra Leone who went on murderous rampages in which they raped, killed or amputated the limbs of thousands of civilians. Taylor was arrested in Nigeria in 2006.

Campbell told the court that she had never heard of Taylor or even of Liberia at the time of the charity dinner. She said she read about the former strongman and his alleged crimes later on the Internet.

She had resisted testifying in the trial, saying she was afraid it would put her and her loved ones in danger. But prosecutors issued a subpoena with which she was forced to comply.

In an unusual and somewhat ironic move in behalf of a woman whose fame comes from appearing before cameras, judges agreed to bar photographers from snapping Campbell’s picture on her way into or out of court.

henry.chu@latimes.com