Saddam 'psychologically abused'

2005-12-23 14:46

Amman - Saddam Hussein's lawyer said on Friday he lodged a complaint over claims that the ousted Iraqi dictator was "severely tortured" by his American jailers who continue to "psychologically" abuse him.

"Saddam Hussein was severely tortured at the start of his detention and I have seen traces of bruises on his body," Khalil al-Dulaimi said as he arrived in Jordan from Iraq.

"They are still torturing him psychologically and his rights are totally being violated," Dulaimi said.

"Yesterday (Thursday) I lodged a formal complaint with the Iraqi court asking for an investigation," he said.

Saddam said during two hearings on Wednesday and Thursday that he had been beaten up by US troops after his arrest in December 2003.

The White House dismissed his allegations as "preposterous".

Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for the murder of more than 140 Shi'ites during a violent crackdown sparked by an assassination bid against the former president in the town of Dujail in July 1982.

"The trial is a farce and will be a mark of shame in the history of the United States," Dulaimi said.

'We were insulted and attacked...'

He and fellow Jordanian lawyer Issam Ghazzawi complained of coming under attack at Baghdad airport by employees who tried to beat them up.

But they said the threats would not sway them from defending Saddam, and that they expected more Arab and foreign lawyers to join the defence team when the trial resumes on January 24.

"We were insulted and attacked by a number of airport employees who tried to beat us up" on Tuesday, the day before the trial resumed, Dulaimi said.

"I contacted the Americans who provided us with protection," he added.

Two defence lawyers have already been assassinated since the trial began on October 19.

Ghazzawi said that US troops in three Humvees escorted the lawyers from Baghdad airport to the court in the heavily-fortified Green Zone and back after the attorneys refused to pay a private security group to protect them.

"The Americans informed us that a security firm wanted $7 000 to protect us to and from the airport but we rejected the offer and told the Americans we would hold them responsible for our safety," Ghazzawi said.

US former attorney general Ramsey Clark did not travel to Iraq for the latest hearings for security reasons but would return in January, said the lawyers who are also assisted by former Qatari justice minister Najib Nuaimi.

- AFP