Saddam HusseinÂ’s chief lawyer walked out of court on Monday after presenting demands to end a boycott of the toppled Iraqi presidentÂ’s genocide trial. Khalil al-Dulaimi, who has since September been boycotting SaddamÂ’s genocide trial against the Kurds after the government sacked the previous judge, made a brief appearance in a Baghdad courtroom to present a list of 12 demands. They included an investigation into allegations that one of SaddamÂ’s co-defendants was beaten up by his prison guards last month and that the court allow defence counsel to have Arab and foreign lawyers in court. He also demanded a probe into documents he said went missing in the lawyersÂ’ Green Zone office.
Chief judge Mohammed al-Ureybi, who took over the case in September, said Arab and foreign lawyers could only attend as advisors. Dulaimi then walked out of courtroom and the proceedings continued with a court-appointed lawyer. Before Dulaimi made his demands, Ureybi interrupted him for addressing Saddam as “my president”. “There is no president in this court except for the president of this court,” the judge said.