Shake-Up In Saddam's Legal Team

Family Dissolves Jordan-Based Team, Appoints Khalil Sole Counsel

(AP)  Saddam Hussein's family said Monday it has dissolved his Jordan-based legal team, canceling the power of attorney it had given to international lawyers in a move seen as reorganizing Saddam's legal counsel ahead of his upcoming trial.

In an "urgent" statement, Saddam's family said it has appointed Khalil Dulaimi as the "one and sole legal counsel." Dulaimi was part of the Jordan-based legal team for the past year and attended some of Saddam's initial court hearings in Baghdad.

The family said it was "obliged to rearrange the legal defense campaign given the unique nature of the case," in the statement signed by Saddam's eldest daughter Raghad. It did not elaborate.

A person close to the family with intimate knowledge of the case who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to hurt relations with the family, said Raghad and other family members were upset by statements issued by various lawyers and wanted only one legal voice to speak on Saddam's behalf.

The family did not say what statements had upset its members, but Saddam's former chief lawyer Jordanian Ziad al-Khasawneh, who resigned on July 7, claimed members of the legal team, especially Americans like former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, were critical of his statements rebuking the American occupation of Iraq and declaring the resistance as "legitimate." He claimed Clark advised Raghad and other members of Saddam's family that such statements hurt Saddam's defense.

The source added that the many subsequent powers of attorney issued by Saddam's legal team to other Arab and international lawyers also confused the family.

The source dismissed speculation that the legal team may in the future comprise mainly of foreign lawyers. When he resigned, al-Khasawneh accused the family of trying to give foreign lawyers, mainly Americans, total control of the defense team, and sideline the Arabs.