Saddam's lawyers demand protection

BAGHDAD - The trial of Saddam Hussein will go ahead as planned next week with the former Iraqi leader and his fellow defendants being represented by their own lawyers, an American official close to the case said yesterday.

However, this was immediately contradicted by members of the defence legal team -- two of whose members have been murdered -- saying that there were still safety issues which remained unresolved.

Khalil Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, declared he would only attend the hearing if his security concerns were met.

Others in the team complained that the government had only offered protection to the families of three of the lawyers, and not the others.

One lawyer who was injured in a gun attack has fled the country and is seeking political asylum in Qatar.

The defence team has accused death squads linked to the Ministry of Interior of carrying out an assassination campaign against them --- a charge vehemently denied by the government who said the lawyers have refused repeated offers of protection.

The US official said the Iraqi Bar Association had ended its backing of a boycott of the trial, and maintained that each of the eight defendants will be represented by at least one lawyer each.

However, court-appointed attorneys were on standby in case defence lawyers failed to turn up.

Several witnesses are due to appear on the opening day, 28th November, of the former Iraqi president's trial.

Some are expected to give evidence from behind a screen.

The proceedings are expected to last for several months, with a break in the run-up to the national elections on 15th December.

Meanwhile yesterday a prominent Sunni leader and members of his family were killed by men wearing Iraqi army uniforms.

Khadim Sarhid, the 70-year-old leader of the Batta tribe, his three sons, and a son-in-law were gunned down in their home in the Huriyah district of Baghdad.

" They came in army uniforms and army vehicles broke into the house and killed them with machine guns," said Mr Sarhid's brother, Nima Sarhid Al-Hemaiyem.

"My brother's eldest son was murdered a month ago".

- INDEPENDENT