BAGHDAD, November 8 – The situation for the lawyers in the Saddam Hussein case is growing exceedingly worrisome. Today two lawyers participating in the trial were ambushed with one of them dying due to fatal wounds. The other attorney was badly wounded from the attack.
The lawyer who was killed represented one of Saddam’s codefendants, the former Vice President of Iraq Taha Yassin Ramadan. The man, Adel al-Zubeidi, was killed when an Opel filled with gunmen pulled alongside of there vehicle in a Sunni neighborhood. Automatic weapons sounded and the two lawyers were caught in a rain of bullets.
The other defense attorneys have announced that they will not cooperate with resuming the trial unless they move the trial to a neutral country where sufficient security can be guaranteed. Khalil al-Dulaimi, the main lawyer in the Saddam case has announced that they will not recognize the resuming date of the trial which is the 28th of November. He has called upon the international community to intervene in this matter as the situation is unbearable. He also stated that he believes the attack was carried out by the government because the vehicle used is allegedly a government vehicle. He asked the Secretary-General of the United Nations to investigate the matter and even send a committee to get to the bottom of this.
Only two weeks ago another defense lawyer in Saddam Hussein’s trial was abducted and not long there after executed by unknown gunmen. Today’s incident only adds to the suspicion that a fair trial cannot be held in Iraq because of the insurgent attacks and governmental impotency.
