Plans to hold former Iraq president Saddam Hussein’s trial next month gives too little time to his defence team to prepare his case, a family lawyer complained today.

A French attorney for Saddam Hussein today dismissed an Iraqi court’s statement that the former dictator had fired an international defence team, but conceded the team could only provide behind-the-scenes help.

Saddam Hussein has fired his legal defence team excepting an Iraqi lawyer who is the only person authorised to represent him.

Saddam Hussein’s deputy Tariq Aziz has refused to testify against the former Iraqi leader at his trial, Aziz’s lawyer said, adding he expected Aziz to be released soon.

Saddam Hussein could be executed if he is sentenced to death in the first of several anticipated trials – even if other proceedings against him are still pending, an official close to the proceedings said today.

Top Saddam Hussein lieutenant Tariq Aziz will not testify against ousted dictator in any criminal trial, Aziz’s lawyer said today.

The family of the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, has said it has dissolved his Jordan-based legal team, cancelling the power of attorney it had given to international lawyers in a move seen as reorganising Saddam’s legal counsel ahead of his upcoming trial.

Saddam Hussein’s lawyers are refusing to take part in any further legal proceedings until the Iraqi tribunal acknowledges an attack against the former dictator and guarantees the safety of all defendants and attorneys, one of his lawyers said today.

A swift trial of Saddam Hussein and former officials of his regime could help in reducing attacks by insurgents, Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani said today.

Gunmen killed three policemen and a government worker walking to work in Baghdad, officials said today, one day after four suicide car bombings killed 22 people.

THE Iraqi justice minister yesterday accused the US of delaying the interrogation of Saddam Hussein.

Saddam Hussein’s notorious cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as “Chemical Ali,” was one of eight former regime officials to be shown today on a tape released by the Iraqi Special tribunal.

Saddam Hussein’s legal representatives today made an appeal to justice ministers in Sweden to consider staging the former dictator’s trial for crimes against humanity.

THE tribunal that will put Saddam Hussein on trial released a new video yesterday of the former dictator being questioned by magistrates about the killing of 50 Iraqis in retaliation for a failed assassination attempt in 1982.

A Dutch businessman accused of complicity in genocide by selling chemicals to Iraq in the 1980s knew that Saddam Hussein might use them as weapons, prosecutors said at his first public hearing today.

Iraq’s national security adviser said today he hoped the trial of Saddam Hussein would begin by the end of this year.

A lawyer for Saddam Hussein today condemned plans to try the former Iraqi leader in a US-funded special court, saying it is illegitimate, and said that he and other members of Saddam’s defence team have been denied access to him.

The Iraqi Special Tribunal has completed preliminary investigations into some of the alleged crimes committed by several of Saddam Hussein’s top henchmen, and it will send the first group of five to trial.

IRAQI officials said yesterday Syrian authorities had captured Saddam Hussein’s half-brother and 29 other officials of the deposed dictator’s Ba’ath Party in Syria and handed them over to Iraq in an apparent goodwill gesture.

Recent information links one of Saddam Hussein’s most notorious former generals to the massacres of Shiites in southern Iraq, a human rights group said today.

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein met a defence lawyer for the first time since his capture a year ago, days before several of his top aides are due to appear in court for war crimes hearings.

War crimes trials against Iraq’s former Baath Party leaders will begin next week, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said today.

INVESTIGATORS have begun unearthing a mass grave near a northern Iraqi village, uncovering more than 100 bodies and seeking evidence to use in a future trial of Saddam Hussein.

Investigators have begun unearthing a mass grave near a northern Iraqi village, uncovering up to 300 bodies and seeking evidence to use in a future trial of Saddam Hussein.

A FIREBRAND Shi'ite cleric yesterday defied demands from Iraq's interim government that his militia pull out of Najaf, after days of fierce clashes with US Marines who say they have killed 360 of his fighters.

The interrogation of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has stopped until he appoints lawyers, the director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal said.

Saddam Hussein should be bailed in Europe while he awaits trial, his lawyer said today.

Iraq’s interim prime minister said today that it was up to the Iraqi Special Tribunal to decide whether Saddam Hussein and his henchmen should face capital punishment on war crimes charges, the Arab language television station Al-Arabiya reported in Baghdad.

A DEFIANT Saddam Hussein rejected charges of war crimes and genocide in a court appearance in Baghdad yesterday, telling a judge "this is all theatre, the real criminal is Bush".

A defiant Saddam Hussein rejected charges of war crimes and genocide in a court appearance in Baghdad today, telling a judge “this is all theatre, the real criminal is Bush”.

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein appeared before an Iraqi judge in Baghdad today to hear charges of crimes committed during his 24-year rule, the Arab language television stations Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiya reported.

Saddam Hussein and 11 of his top lieutenants will not be asked to respond to specific charges when they appear today before an Iraqi judge today.

IRAQ'S new authorities took legal control of Saddam Hussein and 11 others in Baghdad yesterday, setting the stage for a court appearance for the former Iraqi dictator to face war crimes charges on his 24 years in power.

Iraq’s new authorities took legal control of Saddam Hussein and 11 others in Baghdad today, setting the stage for a court appearance to face war crimes charges on his 24 years in power.

Legal custody of Saddam Hussein and 11 others was transferred to the Iraqis today, an international official said in Baghdad.

Iraqis and the world will get their first glimpse of Saddam Hussein since his capture in December when he and 11 of his top lieutenants are brought to court tomorrow to face war crimes charges likely to include the 1988 chemical weapons massacre of Kurds and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Coalition officials and the Iraqi government have agreed to transfer legal custody of Saddam Hussein in a week, a coalition official said in Baghdad.

Iraqi authorities hope to file criminal charges against Saddam Hussein and others in the former regime before the June 30 transfer of sovereignty to the new government, a senior official said today.