International   

Saddam's lawyer abducted, killed

Atul Aneja

Defence team blames Interior Ministry

DUBAI: The fairness of the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been called into question yet again with the killing of a leading defence lawyer whose body was found in Baghdad on Wednesday.

Iraqi police officials confirmed that the body of Khamis Al-Obeidi, who represented Mr. Hussein and his half-brother Ibrahim al-Tikriti was recovered from a street near the Shia slum of Sadr City on the outskirts of Baghdad.

Mr. Hussein's top lawyer, Khalil Al-Dulaimi, said the slain attorney was abducted from his home early on Wednesday. Mr. Al-Obedi became the third member of the defence team who has been killed after court proceedings began on October 19 last year.

Mired in controversy

His death has come at a time when the prosecution has called for the death penalty for Mr. Hussein and his two co-defendants, Mr. Al-Tikriti and the former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan.

The defence is currently preparing its arguments which it hopes to present on the resumption of the trial on July 10. Mr. Hussein and his seven co-defendants have been charged with crimes against humanity for their alleged role in the killing of 148 Shias from the village of Dujail.

The trial of Mr. Hussein has been mired in controversy from the outset. Two defence attorneys were murdered in mysterious circumstances earlier. Around 12 masked gunmen abducted defence lawyer Saadoun al-Janabi from his Baghdad office less than 24 hours after the trial opened. His body was found with bullet injuries to the head. Within weeks, another defence lawyer, Adel al-Zubeidi, was killed in a daylight ambush in Baghdad. A third attorney, who was injured, left the country.

Mr. Al-Dulaimi said the purpose of the assassination of his colleague was "to terrify the lawyers and hinder the work of the defence team". He alleged that Iraq's Interior Ministry forces, which Sunni groups have accused of running death squads, had carried out Mr. Al-Obeidi's killing.

Reinforcing this view, Bushra al-Khalil, a Lebanese member of the defence team, said Mr. Al-Obeidi was pulled out of his house by men who wore police uniforms and used four vehicles belonging to Iraqi security forces. "They blindfolded him and took him away," Ms. Al-Khalil said.

The defence had earlier described the court proceedings as discriminatory.

Unlike the prosecution, which was given five months to prepare, the defence was given only a few weeks to wrap up its arguments. There have been allegations that defence witnesses have faced intimidatio. Besides, former chief judge at the court, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, quit his job in unclear circumstances.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

150 die in Indonesian floods
LTTE firm on removal of E.U. monitors
Saddam's lawyer abducted, killed
Pakistan accepted U.S. help on n-plants
England fans in overnight Cologne skirmishes: the best and the worst on German streets
Womb transplant in sheep
Crackdown on mafia
Experts discuss bird flu
India, Russia to hold naval war games in early 2007
Tulbul talks on June 22, 23
Retired judge to probe Kanishka bombing

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu