Saddam trial to resume next week

BAGHDAD: Defence lawyers in Saddam Hussein's trial have ended a boycott and will be present for the next court session after security concerns were resolved, a US official close to the court said on Wednesday.   

"A number of security options were offered to them and most of them have accepted an option," the official told reporters in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity.   

"The Iraqi Bar Association has lifted its boycott and we expect there'll be at least one defence counsel there for each of the defendants," he said.   

However, a source close to one of the defence teams based in Amman said details were still being worked out and said an offer had only been made to protect three lawyers' families, not the whole team of lawyers, who number around a dozen.   

Khalil Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, speaking from an undisclosed location, said he would attend the next trial session only if his security concerns were met.   

The US official said the Iraqi High Tribunal, the US-supported body conducting the trial, had made arrangements to have court-appointed counsel take over defence responsibilities if defendant-appointed lawyers did not show. The defence lawyers, backed by the Iraqi Bar Association, imposed a boycott after two members of the defence teams were shot and killed days after the trial began on October 19, plunging proceedings into chaos.   

Another lawyer, who survived one of those assassination attempts, fled Iraq earlier this month after he received persistent death threats. He has sought refuge in Qatar.

The killings and death threats prompted calls for the trial to be moved abroad, but the tribunal charged with bringing Saddam and members of his regime to justice insists that this trial and all future ones will take place in Iraq.