Lawyers for Saddam Hussein tonight asked a US judge in Washington to block his transfer to the custody of Iraqi officials poised to carry out his execution.

Saddam Hussein’s lawyers have formally appealed against his death sentence for the killing of 148 Shiites.

Saddam Hussein’s lawyers today appealed the death sentence against their toppled Iraqi leader, accusing the court of trying to delay the process.

A former judge from Saddam Hussein’s regime acknowledged sentencing 148 Shiites to death in the 1980s, but insisted they were given a proper trial and had confessed to trying to assassinate the former Iraqi leader.

A former judge from Saddam Hussein’s regime today insisted that 148 Shiites he sentenced to death in Iraq were given a proper trial, trying to defend himself on charges of killing the men in a crackdown in the 1980s.