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12/05/2005:

"Saddam's lawyers walk out of court"

Saddam Hussein's defence team today walked out of court denying the legality of the trial.

In farcical scenes, the former US attorney-general Ramsey Clark attempted to challenge the legitimacy of the proceedings while the chief judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, said only Saddam's chief lawyer could address the hearing.

Mr Clark spent 15 minutes trying to address the court in English but the judge refused to hear the application, insisting that the official language of the court was Arabic.

After the walkout, Saddam stood up with his half-brother Barazan Ibrahim and declared that the court had been appointed by US occupiers. The two men chanted: "Long live Iraq. Long live the Arab state."

Prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi had earlier tried to exclude Mr Clark and other foreign lawyers from the hearing in Baghdad's Green Zone by arguing that their documents were not issued according to law.

The defence lawyers were later allowed to address the court after a 90-minute recess.

Mr Clark argued that the levels of protection offered for defence lawyers and their families were "absurd", and warned that the trial would collapse without improved safeguards.

"This trial can divide or heal. Unless it is seen as absolutely fair, and fair in fact, it will divide rather than reconcile Iraq," he said.

Saddam's defence team at one point included more than 1,500 volunteer lawyers alongside a core team of 22. But 1,100 of those walked out last month over the killings of two lawyers representing his co-defendants.

The former Qatari justice minister Najib al-Nueimi also queried whether the court was legitimate, arguing that it had been set up by the US occupation rather than the Iraqi government.
guardian.co.uk