Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Defence lawyer arrested in Saddam trial
Saddam Hussein
A lawyer working for the defence team of the ousted Iraqi president has been ejected from the court for talking to the prosecution in too familiar a manner. Mohamed Oreibi al-Khalifah, the chief judge, clashed with Badie Aref over the manner in which he addressed the court on Wednesday. Aref is defending Farhan al-Juburi, the former head of military intelligence in northern Iraq, and began the session with a statement in which he referred to the prosecutor as "brother". Iraqis regularly use the term when talking to each other, but the judge took offence and Aref was arrested.
A lawyer working for the defence team of the ousted Iraqi president has been ejected from the court for talking to the prosecution in too familiar a manner. Mohamed Oreibi al-Khalifah, the chief judge, clashed with Badie Aref over the manner in which he addressed the court on Wednesday. Aref is defending Farhan al-Juburi, the former head of military intelligence in northern Iraq, and began the session with a statement in which he referred to the prosecutor as "brother". Iraqis regularly use the term when talking to each other, but the judge took offence and Aref was arrested.
Oreibi, who objected to the informality of the term, said: "I warned your colleagues yesterday twice to respect the court and its officials." Aref insisted that the information he wanted to give was more important than the form of address and then used the word "brothers" again to refer to the prosecutors. The judge then ordered him to be removed. Aref protested and Oreibi said: "You are arrested for 24 hours for violating professional conduct."
In evidence given on Tuesday, a US forensics expert took the stand to tell in detail how he unearthed the remains of 27 people from a mass grave in northern Iraq. Clyde Snow was the first such expert to testify in the trial, which prosecutors have previously said would rely heavily on forensic evidence to show how thousands of Kurds were killed during the Anfal - or Spoils of War - campaign in 1988.
In evidence given on Tuesday, a US forensics expert took the stand to tell in detail how he unearthed the remains of 27 people from a mass grave in northern Iraq. Clyde Snow was the first such expert to testify in the trial, which prosecutors have previously said would rely heavily on forensic evidence to show how thousands of Kurds were killed during the Anfal - or Spoils of War - campaign in 1988.
