Saddam defence team gets boost

AMMAN: Iraqi lawyers have asked to join Saddam Hussein’s legal team and are willing to work under foreign lawyers appointed by the wife of the deposed Iraqi dictator, a Jordanian attorney said yesterday.

"There are 90 lawyers who submitted requests to the Iraqi Bar Association and we expect them to join our defence team soon," said Ziad Al Khasawneh, one of 20 non-Iraqi lawyers appointed by Saddam’s wife, Sajidah. Al Khasawneh said that another 43 attorneys from Iraq’s western Anbar Province have already asked the Jordan-based team to join them. "All the Iraqi lawyers said they are willing to work under our umbrella in the defense of the Iraqi leader, Mr Saddam Hussein," he said. He would not disclose names of the Iraqi lawyers, citing security concerns.

"We fear for their safety and their lives," he said. "We receive death threats, so can you imagine what could happen to them?" Members of the defense team, which also includes lawyers from Lebanon, Tunisia, the United States, Britain, France and Belgium - say they have received anonymous death threats.

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