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Saddam lawyers said to have ended trial
boycott
24.11.2005
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Baghdad, 24 Nov.
(AKI) - Lawyers representing Saddam Hussein and his
seven co-defendants in their trial for crimes
against humanity are said to have lifted their
boycott and will attend the next trial hearing on
Monday. A US official speaking anonymously said the
defence team had ended their boycott after their
security concerns were resolved. "A number of
security options were offered to them and most of
them have accepted an option," the official told
reporters in Baghdad.
However, a source close to one of the defence
lawyers said details were still being worked out and
they had only been offered protection for the
families of three of the lawyers' families, not for
all of them.
The team, made up of around a dozen lawyers,
announced the boycott after the killing of two of
their members. Sadoun Nasouaf al-Janabi was
kidnapped from his office and killed on 20 October,
just one day after the trial began, while Adel al-Zubeidi
was killed and Thamer Hamoud al-Khuzaie was injured
as they drove through Baghdad on 8 October. Al-Khuzaie
has since fled Iraq, seeking refuge in Qatar after
receiving persistent death threats. |
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP
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The US official said the US-backed Iraqi High
Tribunal, where the trial is being held, had
arranged for court-appointed counsel to take over
the defence if the lawyers appointed by the
defendants did not show up for Monday's hearings.
The eight defendants are being tried for crimes
allegedly carried out by government security forces
in the town of al-Dujail, in which 143 Shiites were
killed in retaliation for an assassination attempt
on Saddam Hussein as his motorcade passed through
the town. If convicted on this first charge, the
former dictator could face death by hanging and
never be tried for the many other crimes he is
accused of, including the gassing of some 5,000
Kurds in Halabja in northern Iraq.
The next session of the trial will start on Monday,
when the court is due to start hearing from
witnesses. Some are expected to give evidence from
behind a screen to protect their identities.
Chief judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, said following
the first session that some 30 witnesses due to give
evidence had refused to travel from Baghdad to al-Dujail
because they were scared for their safety. Since
then, leaflets thought to be produced by al-Qaeda in
Iraq have been found in the court building in al-Dujail,
threatening anyone from the town who gives evidence.
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