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Second lawyer in Saddam trial assassinated
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-09 07:53

Three masked gunmen in a speeding Opel assassinated a second lawyer in the Saddam Hussein trial Tuesday, casting doubt on Iraq's ability to try the case and leading a prominent war crimes prosecutor to urge moving the proceedings to another Arab country.


Lawyers for Saddam Hussein and co-defendents, including defence lawyer Thamir al-Khuzaie, right, are seen in the Baghdad courtroom in the heavily fortified Green Zone on October 19, 2005. Three gunmen in a speeding car are thought to have wounded Thamir al-Khuzaie and killed another defence lawyer Adel al-Zubeidi, on Tuesday Nov. 8, 2005. [AP]

Adel al-Zubeidi, lawyer for former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, died when bullets were sprayed his car in a largely Sunni Arab neighborhood of western Baghdad. The shots also wounded Thamir al-Khuzaie, attorney for another co-defendant, Saddam's half brother Barazan Ibrahim.

The brazen daylight attack on a major avenue came three weeks after the kidnap-slaying of another defense lawyer, Saadoun al-Janabi. His body was found Oct. 20, one day after the trial's opening session, where he represented Awad al-Bandar, a former official in Saddam's Baath Party.

No group claimed responsibility for the killings. An Iraqi government spokesman pointed to Saddam loyalists for the latest attack, while the dictator's lawyer blamed the Shiite-dominated government.


The United States condemned a fatal attack in Iraq against defense lawyers in the trial of ousted president Saddam Hussein for alleged crimes against humanity. The attack Tuesday follows the murder of another attorney representing a Saddam co-defendant, Saadun Janabi, pictured October 2005. [AFP/file]
Regardless of who was responsible, the killing of another defense lawyer reinforced grave misgivings among human rights groups and international lawyers about holding the trial in a country gripped by a brutal insurgency — much of it led by the defendants' supporters in the Sunni Arab minority.

"I don't understand how you can have a fair trial in this atmosphere of insecurity, with bombs going off," said Richard Goldstone, the first prosecutor at the U.N. tribunal for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and one of the world's most prominent jurists.

He told The Associated Press by telephone that Iraq's government should consider shifting the trial to an Arab country "where there is security."

Laith Kubba, spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, brushed aside that idea and insisted the next session would proceed in Baghdad as planned Nov. 28. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Washington would support Iraq as it proceeds with the trial.

Both the Iraqi government and the United States have long insisted the trial be held in Iraq before an Iraqi court so Saddam could answer for crimes allegedly committed against his own people.

Iraq's insistence on the right to execute Saddam and his allies if they are convicted rules out holding the trial before an international court, such as the U.N. tribunals hearing cases from the Balkans and Rwanda.

Kubba suggested pro-Saddam insurgents were responsible for Tuesday's killing. "We know that Saddam and his followers are ready to do anything when it serves their interest and to block the work of the court," he said.

Saddam's chief lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, accused the Iraqi government, claiming the killing was carried out by "an armed group using government vehicles." He repeated his previous demand that the trial be held in a neutral country.
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