About some 1,100 Iraqi lawyers have withdrawn from Saddam Hussein's defense team, citing insufficient protection following the slayings of two peers representing co-defendants of the ousted Iraqi leader.

In a statement obtained Sunday, the lawyers did not say whether Saddam's chief Iraqi attorney, Khalil al-Dulaimi, was among those who withdrew. But the statement said other members of the team in Baghdad were continuing their duties "under complex and dangerous circumstances."

Support lawyers for Saddam's team in Jordan were not immediately available for comment.

However, the head of the investigative judges in Saddam's dozen cases, Raid Juhi, said Sunday the withdrawal of the defense team "will not affect the work of the court and it will continue its legal measures."

"Suspending the members is not acceptable in Iraqi law," Juhi said. "The court will continue to give legal consultation through naming defense lawyers in case the defense team does not show up" Nov. 28, when the trial resumes, Juhi said.

Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial in a special Iraqi tribunal, charged in the 1982 deaths of 148 Shiite Muslims in Dujail after an assassination attempt against Saddam in that town north of Baghdad.

The 1,100 lawyers repeated their call for canceling the trial in Iraq, which opened Oct. 19. The lawyers do not recognize the Nov. 28 date for its scheduled resumption.

The lawyers said they pulled out because "there was no response from the Iraqi Government, U.S. forces and international organizations to our demands for providing protection to the lawyers and their families," according to the statement released Saturday in Baghdad.

The lawyers have been unable to carry out their defense tasks, including contacting witnesses and preparing defense argument, because of "organized, intentional and systematic threats," the statement said.

Two Iraqis defending Saddam's colleagues have been killed since the trial started. 

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)