Saddam lawyers to boycott genocide trial
Saddam Hussein's defence team will continue to boycott his trial on charges of genocide against Iraq's Kurdish minority when it resumes this week, his lead Iraqi lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said yesterday.
"We met president Saddam Hussein on October 2 and presented him a series of observations about the trial and he instructed us to boycott Monday's hearing," Dulaimi said on the eve of the trial's resumption in Baghdad.
"The defence team has therefore decided to boycott the entire Anfal trial," he told AFP.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The ousted Iraqi leader is on trial with six co-defendants over the 1987-1988 Anfal campaign of bombings and gas attacks against the Kurds which prosecutors say left 182,000 people dead.
Dulaimi said defence lawyers will stay away from the trial because of Iraqi "government intervention", including the sacking in September of chief judge Abdullah al-Ameri who was replaced with Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifah.
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