Murder of defence lawyer threatens Saddam trial

Lawyers for Saddam and his seven co-defendants in the trial for crimes against humanity that opened October 19 have suspended contacts with the court, issuing a 10-point list of demands.

The Saddam defence lawyers have said they want UN protection for meetings of the defence committee and the hiring of 15 bodyguards per lawyer to ensure their protection.

If the court cannot even protect the defence lawyers, "one has to question the legitimacy of the proceedings", said Raymond Brown, a US international law expert who in 2004 served as a defence co-counsel at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

"It raises the fundamental legitimacy of the process," Brown told AFP. And if the defence lawyers refuse to participate, "that may precipitate a crisis".

Issam Ghazzawi, a spokesman for Saddam's Jordan-based defence team, said the lawyers planned to meet in Amman on Wednesday or Thursday to "evaluate" the situation.

Foreign defence counsels, who include big names like former Algerian president Ahmed Ben Bella and former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, will also be joining the meeting, he said.

However, presiding judge Rizkar Mohammed Amin has the authority to order the defence team to court and force them to accept government or US security, said Michael Scharf, a US professor of international law at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

"Judge Amin has to sit down and read them the riot act," said Scharf, who was on an international team that helped train the Iraqi High Tribunal judges in 2004 and 2005.

Amin can also press obstruction of justice charges, which carries penalties that range from a fine, to being disbarred, to jail time, Scharf said.