Defence lawyer in Saddam trial kidnapped

BAGHDAD - A lawyer for one of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants was kidnapped from his home today, a day after he sat in the dock next to the former president on the opening day of their trial for crimes against humanity.

His client is former judge Jawad al-Bander, a senior legal source involved in the trial told Reuters.

"Saadoun Janabi was kidnapped this evening around 8.30pm (6.3am NZT) from his office, which is also his home, in the Shaab district by eight armed men," the source said.

Police and Interior Ministry sources confirmed the kidnapping. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Eight men arrived in two cars and forced Bander from his upper-storey office at gunpoint, the police sources said.

Bander is a former top judge under Saddam who is charged, along with Saddam and six others, over the killings and executions of Shi'ite men from the village of Dujail after Saddam escaped an assassination attempt there in 1982.

As he was being taken, Irish journalist Rory Carroll was freed, a day after he was seized while reporting on a Baghdad Shi'ite family watching the televised start of Saddam's trial.

Saddam and seven others went on trial on Wednesday on charges of crimes against humanity connected to the killing of 148 Shi'ites from the village of Dujail in the 1980s.

The defendants won a 40-day adjournment to November 28 to hone their defence after they all pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.

Defence lawyers want to bring in leading foreign attorneys to help them in a trial that has gripped Iraq and the world.

It was not clear whether the kidnapping would affect that or lead to further calls for adjournment.

It may add to complaints that Iraq's appalling security, with a low intensity civil war raging between Saddam's once dominant Sunni Arab minority and the Shi'ite-led, US-backed government, is a poor environment in which to hold a fair trial.

Kidnapping for political motives or money is rampant; Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite militias are both accused of killings.

Bander, in a plain white traditional robe, sat at Saddam's right hand in court on Wednesday, demanding and donning a checkered Arab headscarf as proceedings got under way.

He is accused for overseeing the trials of dozens of Dujail men who were sentenced to death in the wake of the incident. His defence is expected to argue he was simply upholding the law.

In three hours of televised courtroom exchanges, the ousted Iraqi president harangued the Kurdish judge and tussled with his guards. Thursday's newspapers were filled with coverage. "The people are victorious over a tyrant," read one banner headline.

The judge, who has risked revenge attacks by appearing on television to try Saddam, said the court also needed time to persuade witnesses who were "scared" to testify.

One who will definitely give evidence shortly is a former intelligence officer in Dujail who is dying of cancer. The presiding judge, Rizgar Amin, told Reuters he would soon testify in hospital in case he died or was too ill to appear in court.

"Wadah al-Sheikh is one of the main witnesses; we are going to get his testimony, maybe next week," the judge said. "He is in hospital and very sick with cancer so we have to go to him."

Iraqi security forces have arrested a nephew of Saddam on suspicion of financing insurgents, National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said on Thursday. Yasser Sabawi was captured in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit on Wednesday as residents protested to mark the beginning of Saddam's trial.

Earlier on Thursday, Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who has said Iraq is on the verge of civil war, met Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and other Iraqi leaders.

"We spoke about the new Iraq and the specific mission of the head of the Arab League ... in the framework of a national dialogue and national Iraqi reconciliation," Moussa said. "We are working so this will be the basis for Iraq's future."

- REUTERS