Saddam's lawyer claims trial is 'Iraqi government gimmick'

A top member of Saddam Hussein’s defence team slammed the deposed Iraqi leader’s upcoming trial today, saying it was a gimmick by the new Iraqi government for political gain following a referendum on a controversial draft constitution.

“The court isn’t even half way ready to try the case,” Abdel Haq Alani said. “It’s simply political capital being used to follow the referendum on the constitution.”

Saddam and seven other members of his toppled regime are due to stand trial in the Iraq Special Tribunal on October 19 in the first of a dozen trials.

They are charged with ordering a massacre of 143 people in Dujail, a town north of Baghdad, in 1982 after a failed assassination attempt against the ousted leader. If convicted, Saddam could be sentenced to death.

Iraqis will vote on the charter in an October 15 referendum, with the outcome still not assured because of fundamental opposition from Iraq’s Sunni minority, which governed under Saddam. Despite the Sunnis’ minority status in Iraq, most Arab Muslims belong to that sect.

Iraq’s insurgency is being driven by Sunni Arabs from inside and outside the country who are opposed to the US backed-Shiite and Kurdish-dominated government.

Alani, a London-based lawyer charged with assembling Saddam’s new defence team, called the upcoming trial “all politics” and said it had “nothing to do with the reality of the investigation".

Alani said the defence team will prove Saddam’s “legal rights have been denied” and would question the court’s legitimacy.

Iraqi officials have issued multiple comments about Saddam’s case, including President Jalal Talabani who claimed last week that the toppled leader had confessed to Iraqi investigators.

“Neither Saddam Hussein nor his defence attorneys have been informed of the trial date so far,” Alani said, despite an Iraqi government announcement to the media two weeks ago. No charges have yet been formally made against Saddam, the lawyer added.

Last week, Alani said he and Saddam’s Iraqi lawyer Khalil Dulaimi planned to challenge the legitimacy of the trial and tribunal before October 19, citing international laws that dictate a court formed under occupation is considered invalid.

Alani, who serves as a legal counsel to Saddam’s eldest daughter, Raghad, said a defence team will soon be picked to replace a squabbling assemblage of more than 1,500 Arab and international lawyers fired last month amid accusations that group had no united strategy and sought fame in the high-profile case.

“The defence team has not yet been finalised,” said Alani. “It will be made public when the accused (Saddam) gives his approval to the new team,” he added without elaborating.

Sources close to Raghad, speaking on condition of anonymity because they wanted to avoid upsetting Saddam’s daughter, said the new team is expected to comprise some lawyers in the previous defence group, like former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, ex-Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad, and former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas.