Saddam defence team broke

2005-10-05 11:55

Baghdad - Saddam Hussein's family has no money to pay for his defence and his legal team is demanding either the Iraqi court try him or the media provide the funds, his Iraqi lawyer said Wednesday.

With the former Iraqi dictator to stand trial over a Shi'ite massacre in just two weeks, Khalil Dulaimi said until now his team had been providing its services for free because Saddam's family "had no money to cover his expenses".

He said his team had failed to raise the money from "rich Arabs, including those who had amassed fortunes in doing business with Iraq".

Pointing his finger at the Special Tribunal that will be trying Saddam and seven former cohorts from October 19, Dulaimi said it had spent at least $500m preparing its case.

He said his team had asked the court for funds to cover their costs, but had received no response.

Dulaimi added he would make no further statements to the media until the tribunal "applies the law and covers the expenses of the lawyers" or until the media do.

Saddam and seven others are charged in connection with the massacre of 143 people in the Shi'ite village of Dujail in 1982 following an attempt on his life there.

Senior former officials to be tried with him are ex-vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's half-brother and former intelligence boss Barzan Ibrahim al-Hassan and a former deputy chief in Saddam's cabinet, Awad Ahmed al-Bandar.

The other four - Abdullah Khadem Ruweid, Mezhar Abdullah Ruweid, Ali Daeh and Mohammed Azzam al-Ali - are former ruling Baath party officials responsible for the Dujail area.

Dulaimi has been requesting a delay, claiming the defence hadn't been informed about the trial date and had not given it full access to Saddam himself or full details of the charges against him.

The court, however, said it had told the defense in September of the trial would and that it had been provided with all the evidence obtained in the case.

- SAPA