Defense Lawyer in Saddam Trial Kidnapped

Posted on October 20, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Ten masked gunmen kidnapped the lawyer for one of Saddam Hussein’s co-defendants Thursday, police said.

Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, who was in the courtroom for Wednesday’s opening session of the trial, is one of two lawyers for Awad Hamed al-Bandar, one of seven Baath Party officials being tried with Saddam

The gunmen pulled up outside al-Janabi’s office in Baghdad’s eastern Shaab district in the evening, broke into the building and dragged him out, said Police Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi of the Interior Ministry.

Al-Janabi was one of 13 defense lawyers in Wednesday’s session, seated at desks along the side of the courtroom. Some of the lawyers were shown in the television broadcast of the trial, but it was not immediately known if al-Janabi appeared.

Identities of the five judges and the prosecutors in Saddam’s trial have been kept secret to prevent insurgent reprisals. The names of the chief judge and the top prosecutor were the only ones revealed, and only on the day of the trial, when they both appeared extensively in the broadcast.

Defense attorneys’ names have not been hidden _ although the lawyers of Saddam’s co-defendants have not been widely publicized. Saddam had two lawyers at the trial, Khalil al-Dulaimi and Khamis al-Ubaidi.

What Sadam and his co-killers are on trial for right now is murder, torture, forced expulsion and illegal imprisonment for an 1982 massacre of Shiites in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad. The client of the kidnapped lawyer was the head of Sadam’s Revolutionary Court at the time of the massacre. He supposedly is the one who ordered the execution orders. I’m not sure if there are any leads on this at all, but apparently someone doesn’t want this guy defended. Now who could possibly want to abduct a defender of a rapist, murderering, scumbag? Perhaps the ACLU can take their place.

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Comments

3 Responses to “Defense Lawyer in Saddam Trial Kidnapped”

Gribbit on October 20th, 2005 6:43 pm

I’m of the mindset that this is staged. To force the court to extend the adjournment.
pantheria on October 20th, 2005 8:22 pm

you can never tell with these guys , I do not trust any of them .
Timmer ~ Righting America on October 20th, 2005 9:32 pm

I think there is at least an even chance that this was staged by Baathists in order to gain sympathy for Saddam. Terror (up until now at least) does not seem to be a tactic of the anti-Saddam forces…unless you consider Muqtada al-Sadr, but they were always focused against the coalition.

Whatever it is, I hope it backfires on Saddam. So far, in the game of Media Circus for this trial, Saddam is winning 1-0.