The ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's lawyers yesterday filed formal appeal against the death sentence to Saddam and two of his senior aids ruled by the Iraqi High Tribunal over the Dujail case, a court official told reporters.

The defense lawyers of Saddam officially appealed to the higher court today against the death penalty imposed on Saddam and another two co-defendants, said the official.

He added that the appeal was also submitted on behalf of all seven defendants, including those with imprisonment verdicts.

On Nov. 5, Saddam and his two senior aids were found guilty of crimes against human and sentenced to death by hanging over the execution of 148 people of Dujail during the crackdown on the town after a failed assassination attempt against Saddam in 1982.

According to Iraqi law, defense lawyers have to file the formal appeal to the higher court within 30 days of the verdict, although the appeal should take effect automatically within 10 days.

Despite the death sentence Saddam got from the Dujail case, theformer Iraqi president and his co-defendants are on another trial of Operation Anfal (Spoils of War), which could bring Saddam the second death penalty if convicted.

Saddam and his aides are facing charges of genocide against Kurds in the trial of Operation Anfal, a military campaign in which prosecutors said that up to 180,000 Kurds were killed, many of them by poison gas and mass killings.