Guantanamo Bay detainees...

[V_RocKs]

Why are these detainies not all being shot?

Why do we afford humane treatment to animals?

[V_RocKs]

Hussein's third defence lawyer killed by men in police uniform

06/21/2006
Obaidi's wife told another defence lawyer that men in police uniform took Obaidi from his Baghdad home around 7 a.m.
Jamis Al Obaidi
Jamis Al Obaidi

One of Saddam Hussein's main lawyers was shot dead on Wednesday after men in police uniforms took him from his home, police and relatives said. It is the third defence attorney to be killed since the trial opened in October.

The killing of Khamis al-Obaidi was a new setback for the US-backed court. It possibly fuelled complaints that sectarian violence, some by Shiite militias within the police against Saddam's once dominant Sunni Arab minority, is crippling a fair trial.

The lead defence lawyer called for the case to be suspended and the defendants taken abroad after the death of his deputy.

Al Qaeda's allies said in a Web posting they would kill four Russian embassy staff kidnapped in Baghdad 18 days ago because Moscow failed to meet a deadline to pull troops out of Chechnya.

Russia urged the group to heed Muslim calls to free the men.

Obaidi's wife told another defence lawyer that men in police uniform took Obaidi from his Baghdad home around 7 a.m.

"They said 'We're from internal security and we need you for questioning'," Qatari attorney Najeeb al-Nuaimi told Al Jazeera television. Two hours later, Obaidi's body was dumped on a road beside a poster honouring a Shiite cleric killed under Saddam.

The attack appeared very similar to the killing of another lawyer the day after the televised trial began in October.

A police officer who identified himself as Captain Sabah said Obaidi had been shot eight times and there were signs of torture - both his arms were broken.

Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi said the killing would "not affect or delay the trial and we will defy terrorism".

It came two days after Moussawi demanded a death penalty for Saddam and three of his former senior aides.

Suspension Call

Shopowners told Reuters three gunmen dumped the body of Obaidi at a roundabout under a poster of a senior Shiite cleric killed by Saddam's agents in 1999. The cleric is the father of Moqtada al-Sadr, a cleric and leader of the Mehdi Army militia.

"They fired into the air and said 'This is the fate of Baathists!'" said a vegetable seller whose shop is 10 metres (yards) from where the body was dumped.

Chief defence counsel Khalil al-Dulaimi said the trial should be suspended and the defendants taken abroad for safety:

"We hold the US and Iraqi governments and particularly the militias responsible for Obaidi's killing," he told Reuters.

A Western official close to the court said Obaidi was offered protection but had turned it down. "He made his choice not to accept it," he said, insisting on anonymity.

Nuaimi told Jazeera that other defence lawyers had received written death threats from pro-government Shiite militias.

Obaidi told Reuters last year he preferred to stay in Iraq during court recesses: "Whatever will be will be," he said.

The trial, which started in October, has also been marred by the resignation of the previous judge, who complained the Shiite-led government was pressuring him over the case.

Defence lawyers are due to sum up on July 10. Further trials are expected and appeals should delay any executions ordered.

That fucking sucks ass... The guy probably didn't even want to do it and was possibly appointed by the court.

This also brings up why we are still there. I predict we will remain until after the trial is over.