UN envoy wants probe of Saddam lawyers' killings

GENEVA - A United Nations human rights envoy has called for an independent probe into the murders of two of Saddam Hussein's defence lawyers in Iraq.

Adil al-Zubeidi was killed on Nov. 8 in a drive-by shooting in which another defence lawyer was also wounded. Saadoun al-Janabi was shot dead the day after Saddam's trial started in Baghdad on Oct. 19. "An independent investigation is essential because these killings have huge implications for efforts to establish the rule of law in Iraq," said Australian lawyer Philip Alston, a law professor at New York University.

The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions added that he was concerned at allegations that the Iraqi Interior Ministry was involved in the shootings.

Although the information he had received provided no clear evidence of involvement, nor did it give clear grounds for excluding that possibility, he said in a statement.

"When allegations call into question the impartiality of the government, and when so much hinges on the facts, an independent investigation is the only way to uphold the rule of law," he said.

The legal team acting for Saddam and his seven co-defendants in the trial due to resume on Nov. 28 declared they would stop all dealings with the court trying him and that the government and its US backers must take responsibility for the attacks.

The sectarian anger dividing Iraq pervades both the campaign for Dec. 15 elections and Saddam's trial, which Sunni Arabs condemn as "victors' justice" over fellow Sunni Saddam.

- REUTERS