BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 6 (UPI) -- Lebanese lawyer Bushra Khalil, member of the team defending deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, called for ending his trial which she described "a mockery."
Speaking at a press conference in Beirut Tuesday, Khalil, who was asked twice to leave the courtroom by the head of the court trying Saddam, judge Rauf Rashid, urged Arab leaders to intervene to put an end to the "legal heresy" and "violations of international and local laws" taking place during Saddam's trial.
"This trial is a mockery and the decisions of the court are American inspired all the way from minor details to important decisions," Khalil said.
She said the team defending Saddam and his aides in the case of a 1982 massacre in the city of Dujail were informed two days ago in Amman "that the Americans took a decision to lift the security cover on the lawyers."
"Now we have to assume the responsibility of our presence in Baghdad after the Americans were ensuring our security," she said.
Khalil said a group of American lawyers has been attending the hearings from a place in the courtroom where they can see but not be seen.
She charged that the U.S. team "effectively directed the trial by giving instructions to the head of the court on pieces of paper."
Khalil accused judge Rashid of being biased because he hails from the Kurdish city of Halabja where Saddam and his Baathist regime committed a massacre in the mid 1980's.
