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Iraqi government rejects Saddam lawyers' trial boycott

Posted on: Thursday, 10 November 2005, 09:30 CST

By Paul Tait

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government rejected on Thursday a boycott of former president Saddam Hussein's trial by defense lawyers, two of whom have been killed since proceedings opened, describing it as an attempt to influence the court.

"We look to the boycott as a futile pressure on the court and the course of justice," government spokesman Laith Kubba told a news conference. "We support the independence and transparency of the court totally."

Kubba said the court must decide how to respond to the boycott, announced on Wednesday by attorneys defending Saddam and seven co-accused on charges of crimes against humanity.

Possible options include appointing new defense lawyers for the trial, which began on October 19 and is due to resume on November 28, he added.

Khalil al-Dulaimi, who heads the defense team, said on Wednesday they would stop all dealings with the court after gunmen shot dead a lawyer for Saddam's brother and his former vice president, and injured another, in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Another defense lawyer was killed on October 20.

Dulaimi told Reuters the attorneys for Saddam and his co-accused considered the November 28 hearing canceled.

He said the defense lawyers were unable to do their jobs properly because of threats to their lives and renewed a demand that the United Nations halt the trial.

The Iraqi government has steadfastly refused to consider defense requests to move the trial abroad.

PROTECTION REFUSED

Echoing previous comments by Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, Kubba said on Thursday defense lawyers had repeatedly refused offers of police protection made since before the trial began.

He said the defense team had spurned an offer of safe houses inside the secure Green Zone in central Baghdad after the first killing. "We can't force anyone to have protection without his consent," Kubba said.

But international human rights lobbyists say the government and U.S. military occupying force must take into account the lawyers' discomfort with police protection and work with them to find suitable alternatives.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, speaking in Rome on Thursday after meeting Pope Benedict, expressed regret at the killings.

"I am very sorry that some colleagues, some lawyers -- because I too am a lawyer -- were killed," Talabani said.

"We are ready to provide them with security, with protection, with bodyguards, but unfortunately they do not want to ask us, the government.

"But otherwise the Iraqi government is ready to provide all those who are defending Saddam and others protection and security."

Supporters of Saddam, who come mainly from Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority, have said they are being targeted by security forces of the Shi'ite and Kurdish-led government and pro-government militias.

Witnesses said gunmen who abducted and killed defense counsel Saadoun al-Janabi last month told them they were from the Interior Ministry.

The government has rejected claims it was involved, and Jaafari hinted on Wednesday that Saddam supporters could have been responsible for Janabi's death and Tuesday's attack, which killed Adil al-Zubeidi and wounded Thamer Hamoud al-Khuzaie.

Saddam supporters were exploiting the deaths, he said, adding: "If you seek the cause ... seek him who benefits." Jaafari said he hoped the lawyers would now accept protection.

Judge Rizgar Amin, who presides over a panel of five trial judges, said on Wednesday the court was considering its response to the lawyers' boycott.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Rashid and Phil Pullella)

Source: REUTERS

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