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Trial resumes with Saddam absent
25/7/2006 10:20

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Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein speaks at his trial in Baghdad in this March 1, 2006 file photograph. The trial of Saddam resumed on Monday without the ousted Iraqi leader, who was being fed through a tube on Sunday after 16 days on hunger strike. (File photo/Xinhua/Reuters)

The trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and seven of his co-defendants for alleged Dujail massacre resumed on Monday, without presence of Saddam, who is under medical treatment due to a 17-day hunger strike.

Chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman began the session with hearing final arguments of Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief.

Ibrahim rejected his court-appointed lawyer and asked to leave the court, but Rahman refused his demand.

Ibrahim's appointed lawyer, whose voice was disguised, read out dozens of pages to defend his client urging the court to throw out the case.

"There is not a single piece of evidence to involve my client in the Dujail case," he told the court.

However, Ibrahim said, "I am not interested in the defense case, because this lawyer does not represent me."

"This tribunal is illegitimate, because the United States occupied Iraq without a resolution from the UN Security Council. My presence here is contrary to the Geneva Convention," he said.

He also accusing the lawyer of blackmailing his family, saying the lawyer asked for thousands of U.S. dollars to represent him.

Saddam and his lawyers announced earlier that they would boycott the trial, demanding an adjournment to allow more time to prepare their final arguments.

They also demanded that authorities provide adequate protection to Iraqi lawyers and their families following the killing of Khamis al-Obeidi, the third defense lawyer killed since Saddam's trial began last October.

But Rahman rejected a petition submitted by chief of Saddam's defense team, Khalil al-Dulaimi, saying the court would appoint lawyers if Saddam's defense team refused to appear.

Saddam was hospitalized on Sunday due to hunger strike and was fed by a tube, according to the court's chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi, who told reporters that he might not be able to attend the court session scheduled for Monday.

Saddam's hunger strike came in protest against the Iraqi High Tribunal's procedures and lack of security for defense lawyers.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants were charged with crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shiites in Dujail after he survived an assassination attempt in 1982.



Xinhua News