Saddam's genocide trial resumes with defence lawyers absent

Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial resumed in Baghdad today, but without lawyers representing the former Iraqi president or any of the other six defendants. Saddam was present in the courtroom.

Saddam’s nine-member defence team announced yesterday that it would boycott the proceedings, citing the replacement of the chief judge and other alleged violations of legal procedures.

Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam’s chief lawyer, said he and other lawyers representing the deposed Iraqi leader would boycott the trial “indefinitely” to protest the replacement of chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri and other alleged violations.

Al-Dulaimi also protested the court’s refusal to hear non-Iraqi lawyers and its demand that foreign attorneys seek permission to enter the courtroom.

Among Saddam’s nine lawyers are a Jordanian, a Spaniard, a Frenchman and two Americans, including former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Saddam and six others have been on trial since August 21 for a crackdown on Kurdish guerrillas in the late 1980s. The prosecution says about 180,000 people, mostly civilians, died in attacks that included the use of poison gas against Kurdish towns and villages in northern Iraq.

Saddam could face execution if convicted of genocide.