Saddam defence lawyer murdered

The body of Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi was dumped near a Baghdad mosque. He had been shot twice in the head.

The gunmen burst into his office and dragged him away on Thursday evening, a day after he participated in the first session of the trial, acting as the lawyer of one of Saddam's seven co-accused.

His body was found hours later on a pavement near Fardous Mosque in the eastern district of Ur, close to his office.

Diaa al-Saadi, an official with a senior lawyers' syndicate, said Mr al-Janabi's family had told him he was dead. "He was killed. It is confirmed," Mr al-Saadi said.

"This will have grave repercussions. This will hinder lawyers from defending those held for political reasons."

The killing was the first setback for a trial process that has been held under the tightest of security.

Heavy protection was provided for prosecutors and judges in the case, on the basis that they were likely to be targets of pro-Saddam militants seeking revenge.

The identities of the presiding judge and the main prosecutor were revealed for the first time just before the trial. But the names of their colleagues have not been released and their faces were not shown in the broadcast of Wednesday's opening session.

However, the security measures do not appear to have been extended to the defence lawyers for Saddam and the other defendants. Their identities have been known, though most of them have not been prominent in the media.

Saddam and the seven officials from his Baath regime face a possible death sentence if convicted on charges of murder and torture of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982.

Mr Al-Janabi had been defending Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former head of Saddam's Revolutionary Court.

Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, said after the kidnapping that defence lawyers had received many threats in recent weeks by e-mail, text message and telephone. He did not specify if the threats were from opponents of the former dictator's regime who were angry at their defence of Saddam or from Sunni supporters angry that they were participating in the trial at all.

During Wednesday's session, Mr al-Janabi, with his distinctive silver hair and black moustache, sat with the 12 other defence lawyers in two rows of desks to the right of their clients. He spoke at least once during the session but did not stand out in the proceedings like Mr al-Dulaimi or others who spoke more often or more combatively with the judge.

Laith Kubba, an Iraqi government spokesman, said: "We condemn this killing, which does not serve the interests of the trial or of the political process.

"We do not know who was behind this operation. Is it designed to hinder the trial process, or is it an case of vendetta? We don't know."

Meanwhile, a further four United States service personnel have been killed, the military announced, taking the US death toll in the past week to 19.

Three marines died when a bomb hit their patrol in Nasser wa Salam, west of Baghdad, on Thursday. The surviving troops clashed with gunmen, killing two militants and capturing four.

In the north-western town of Hit, a US soldier was killed by what the military said was "indirect fire", a term that usually means a mortar or rocket attack.

The latest deaths mean that 1,992 members of the US military have died since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003.

Yesterday, four Iraqi police commandos, an army captain and a mosque preacher were killed in drive-by shootings in Baghdad.