Family shakes up legal team to defend Saddam

AMMAN - Saddam Hussein's family has scrapped the international team of attorneys claiming to be representing him and will pick a new set of heavyweight lawyers to defend him against war crimes charges, the family's lawyer said.

"There are too many people in the world who are claiming they are defending the president without the family's knowledge and we don't know who authorised them," said Abdel Haq Alani, the legal consultant of Raghd, Saddam's eldest daughter who is authorised to act on behalf of the ousted leader's family.

He told Reuters Saddam's family had revoked any right of attorney previously issued to any lawyers to represent Saddam, and had chosen Iraqi lawyer Khalil Dulaimi who attends Saddam's court hearings as the "only authorised lawyer at this moment".

Alani said the move was prompted by family concerns that Saddam's defence could be scuppered by conflicting legal opinions and bickering among the hundreds of international lawyers claiming to represent him.

Alani said Saddam's family had been irked by press statements from Arab and Western lawyers and propagandists who claimed to speak on behalf of the ousted leader, including high profile lawyers from France, Britain and the United States.

"They have more than one counsel in every country claiming to represent him. This can lead to conflicting legal opinion that may damage the interest of the client," Alani said.

COLOURFUL CAST OF CHARACTERS

More than 2,000 lawyers had volunteered for Saddam's defence team, including former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark and a daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Others who said they were on the team included Anglo-Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano who once worked on behalf of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, and Roland Dumas, a colourful octogenarian who served as French foreign minister from 1988 to 1993 and acted as executor of Pablo Picasso's estate.

"There was never any proper legal team. It was a media hype more than anything else," Alani said.

So far, Saddam has been formally charged in only one case - the killing of Shi'ite Muslims in the village of Dujail following a failed assassination attempt in 1982.

A date for that trial is expected to be set soon. If found guilty, Saddam could be executed.

"The family doesn't know how many lawyers have authorisations that were given at different times and by different people. The family is in the dark and they cannot defend the father in this mess," Alani said.

"If you have too many lawyers then who is the client to sue if there is negligence?"

Lawyers say personal feuds and squabbling have delayed preparing a good defence, with publicity and fame a bigger motive for many of the colourful cast of lawyers than the goal of defending Saddam.

The trial will attract huge international attention and is expected to produce no shortage of drama.

Saddam's family say the defence team will appoint new heavyweight international lawyers to ensure their father gets the best possible defence.

"This move is to put the defence team on a proper legal foundation and when the family appoints lawyers it then knows who is whom," Alani said.

- REUTERS