Saddam appears in court, confirms legal team sacked

[merwin]

Saddam appears in court, confirms legal team sacked

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein met his lawyer and the chief judge investigating charges against him on Tuesday and confirmed that the rest of his legal team had been sacked.

"The judge asked president Saddam Hussein about his family's statement that his legal team had been fired and he confirmed it," Khalil Dulaimi, the only lawyer authorized to represent the toppled Iraqi leader, told Reuters.

Saddam's family scrapped the international team of attorneys claiming to represent him and will pick a new set of heavyweight lawyers to defend him against war crimes charges, his family's lawyer, Abdel Haq Alani, said this month.

He said Saddam's family had revoked any right of attorney previously issued to any lawyers to represent Saddam, and had chosen Dulaimi who attends Saddam's court hearings as the "only authorized lawyer at this moment."

Alani said Saddam's family had been irked by press statements from Arab and Western lawyers and propagandists who claimed to speak on behalf of the ousted leader, including high profile lawyers from France, Britain and the United States.

...

[seeminer21]

1. Gee

I wonder what lies BushCo will invent this time to try to get Saddam? Was he making WMDs in his cell?

[daleo]

2. Before this is over, Bush will turn Saddam into a martyr

For Arab independence, perhaps even for Islam. It is kind of ironic that a famously secular leader who probably did commit his share of brutal actions will probably end up being remembered as a hero.

[Richard Steele]

3. You read my mind. Saddam was a ruthless dictator...

...who was hated by most muslims.
But B*shCabalInc.™ is gonna make him a hero to BILLIONS
by the time this is over.

[maxsolomon]

4. all hail the next elected president of iraq

think it won't happen?

[wli]

5. at the rate Bushler's going, Iraq would probably elect Saddam n/t

[merwin]

6. The death rate under BushCo is over 10 times higher than under Saddam