Saddam Hussein Trial Ends; Sentencing Expected In October
Komfie Manalo - All Headline News Foreign Correspondent Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - The trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ended Thursday with court-appointed lawyers delivering their final summations for two of the major defendants. Hussein did not appear in court since his summation Wednesday by a court-appointed lawyer. His defense team boycotted the trial since last month to protest the killing of one of their members identified as Khamis al-Obeidi. The murder marked the third defense lawyer killed since the trial started in October 2005. If found guilty, Saddam and two of the seven other defendants will face the death penalty for their involvement in the deaths of Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982. Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman adjourned the proceedings until mid-October for the sentencing. Hussein's co-accused former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan protested against the court-appointed lawyer and the judge told him to present his own summation. Ramadan told the court, "I refuse these procedures and I will not present my own defense. I do not know who this lawyer is, or his name." He said he could produce 1,000 people from Dujail to testify that he was not at the scene at the time of the killing. In his summation, a court-appointed lawyer said there was no evidence tying Ramadan, a member of Saddam's ruling Revolutionary Command Council, to the events in Dujail.
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