Saddam Hussein’s chief lawyer said on Wednesday lawyers for the former president and seven co-defendants would stop all dealings with the tribunal trying them for crimes against humanity. “The defence committee has decided to consider the November 28 date (for the next hearing) canceled and illegitimate,” Khalil al-Dulaimi said the day after Adil al-Zubeidi, a lawyer for Saddam’s half-brother, was shot dead in Baghdad. A fellow member of the defence team Thamer Hamoud al-Khuzaie was also injured in the attack.The court is due to hold its next hearing on November 28, but Dulaimi said the defence was unable to contact witnesses or do their job because of the threats to their lives.“We call on the international community, the UN Security Council, the United States and all those involved to work on scrapping the criminal court as illegitimate, and also to pressure it to release President Saddam Hussein and his legitimate leadership team,” he said. —Reuters
