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.

The 12 former Iraqi regime figures due in court in Baghdad to hear charges against them are: