A defence lawyer involved in the trial of Saddam Hussein is among eight people Iraq’s Interior Ministry says have been abducted by armed kidnappers.
According to a report by The Associated Press, police in Baghdad identified the lawyer as Saadoun Sghaiyer al-Janabi, the counsel for Awad al-Bandar, one of seven Baath Party officials being tried alongside Saddam, but Reuters identified the lawyer as Saadoun Dulaimi.
Saddam, who alongside the seven former members of his regime is being tried on charges in connection with a 1982 massacre of nearly 150 Shiites, was represented by two lawyers in the court, lead attorney Khalil Dulaimi and Khamees al-Ubaidi.
If convicted of the charges — revealed for the first time Wednesday to include murder, torture, forced expulsion and illegal imprisonment — the accused could be sentenced to death by hanging.
