The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial on Wednesday ordered a defence lawyer to be jailed for a day for ”insulting the court”.
Saddam and six co-defendants are on trial for the so-called Anfal or ”Spoils of War” military campaign against ethnic Kurds in 1988 which prosecutors say killed up to 180 000 people.
Badea Arif, a lawyer for co-defendant Farhan Mutlaq was ejected by the judge after twice being warned to stop addressing prosecutors as ”brother”. The judge ordered that he be held in a detainment facility for a day.
After boycotting previous hearings, most of the defence team returned to court this week, but lawyers for Saddam and his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as ”Chemical Ali” for his alleged involvement in gas attacks, remained absent.
Saddam, who was sentenced to death earlier this month, faces charges of genocide along with Majid, while the others face crimes against humanity. – Reuters