Saddam Hussein's trial to resume tomorrow

BAGHDAD, July 9 (Reuters) The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven others on charges against humanity is due to resume tomorrow with defence counsel scheduled to make final arguments three weeks after gunmen killed a senior defence lawyer.

But court officials told Reuters defence lawyers might ask the presiding judge to adjourn the trial for a few days, saying the killing of Khamis al-Obaidi had disrupted their legal work.

Saddam, his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and other former Baath party allies face death by hanging if found guilty of killing 148 Shi'ite villagers in the village of Dujail in 1982.

In a new setback to the US-backed trial, gunmen last month killed Obaidi, Saddam's deputy chief lawyer, after kidnapping him from his Baghdad home -- the third defence attorney to be killed since the tumultuous trial opened in October.

The prosecution has demanded the death penalty for Saddam and three of his former senior aides for their roles in the killings, torture and executions that followed an attempt on the Iraqi leader's life in Dujail.

Once final statements are in, a five-judge panel is expected to adjourn to consider a verdict. Officials close to the court say a verdict on Dujail can come in as early as September.

A death sentence might be delayed by appeals and the many cases the toppled leader, who is being held in a US-run prison, is likely to face for crimes during his Sunni dominated rule against mostly Shi'ites and Kurds now in power.

Saddam and his former top army commanders will go on a separate trial on August. 21 to face genocide charges stemming from the killing of tens of thousands of Iraqi Kurds in a 1988 military operation to force them from their villages.

Seven defendants including Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, or ''Chemical Ali'', would stand trial in the new case.

REUTERS PKS RK2000