Baghdad
A second member of the defense team representing Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants was gunned down this week in a drive-by shooting. Just last month, a Saddam lawyer was dragged from his office by masked men; his bullet-ridden corpse was found the next day. The defense team is now demanding that the trial be moved to a different country. “We don’t believe that a fair trial can take place in such security conditions,” said Issam Ghazzawi, a spokesman for the defense. The lawyers refused an Interior Ministry offer of bodyguards, saying that they suspect ministry forces of colluding with the Shiite militias that have been killing Sunnis. The former Iraqi dictator and his cohorts are accused of crimes against humanity.
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