Saddam trial wraps up defence case

BAGHDAD, June 13 (Reuters) Defence lawyers for Saddam Hussein and seven co-accused of crimes against humanity wrapped up their case today and the court said it will hear final statements within a month before it reaches a verdict.

Chief Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman said the prosecution team will make its closing statements on June 19 and the defence team will deliver its final remarks on July 10.

That would mark the final phase in a trial which opened last October and has been rocked by the killings of two defence lawyers, the resignation of the previous chief judge and court disorder prompted by lengthy tirades by defendants.

Once final statements are in, a five-judge panel is expected to adjourn to consider a verdict, an official close to the court said. The prosecution completed its case in April.

Saddam faces death by hanging if found guilty, but any execution of the former Iraqi president could be delayed by appeals and possibly up to a dozen other trials for war crimes and genocide.

Defence lawyers, who have questioned the legality of the US-backed Iraqi court and have accused the judge of rushing the case, called more witnesses today, including one of Saddam's half brothers, Sabawi al-Tikriti.

Earlier, Abdel Rahman barred another half-brother of Saddam, co-accused Barzan al-Tikriti, from attending the session one day after guards threw him out from the heavily-fortified courtroom in Baghdad as he screamed: ''This is a dictatorship.'' ''The court decided to continue keeping defendant Barzan away for his repeated violation of the order of the court,'' Abdel Rahman said.

DUJAIL CRACKDOWN The eight defendants are accused of crimes against humanity for their roles in a crackdown that led to the killing of 148 Shi'ites after an assassination attempt against Saddam in the village of Dujail in 1982.

Sabawi, a former intelligence chief who testified along with three of Saddam's former bodyguards today, was number 36 on the US military's list of the 55 most-wanted people in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

Abdel Rahman, a Kurd who has tried to keep defendants from launching tirades, warned Sabawi to stick to the Dujail case.

''We don't want political speeches. Stick to your testimony,'' he said wagging his finger at Sabawi.

''How come you know that I am going to give a political speech?'' Sabawi asked sarcastically.

''I can tell by the way you are sitting,'' the judge replied.

Sabawi, who was captured in February 2005, denied that another defendant, former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan, was head of a committee that ordered the razing of orchards in reprisal for the Dujail assassination attempt on Saddam.

Following a heated exchange with Ramadan's lawyer, Abdel Rahman accused the lawyer of provoking the witness to come up with answers which are ''insulting to the Iraqi people'' and ordered proceedings to briefly continue in closed session.

Reuters SY GC2106