Defence lawyer warns abt Saddam's execution

Amman, Oct 30: Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer said today he had warned US President George W Bush the execution of the toppled leader would spark all-out civil war in Iraq and threaten Washington's interests in the region.

Khalil al-Dulaimi told Reuters in an telephone interview he had urged Bush in a letter he sent him yesterday to release Saddam immediately and put an end to a trial he called a ''political farce ... that lacked legitimacy.'' ''We believe it is crucial to stop this farce of a trial and set free President Saddam Hussein, and all the prisoners, because this is a way out of the difficult position your country and your troops are facing in Iraq,'' Dulaimi said.

The chief prosecutor said today the court trying the former leader for the killing of Shi'ites in the 1980s could delay delivering a verdict, due next Sunday, for a few days to give judges more time to review testimonies.

Jaafar al-Moussawi said the US-backed Iraqi High Tribunal was still working on the judgment, which could send the ousted leader to the gallows if he is found guilty of crimes against humanity over his role in the killing of 148 villagers.

Moussawi expected the verdict -- the first ruling against Saddam by the court -- to include detailed legal reasoning to support the judges' conclusions.

Prosecutors have asked for the death penalty if Saddam is found guilty for his role in the killings which occurred after an attempt on his life in the village of Dujail in 1982.

Any execution could be delayed by appeals and by the up to a dozen other cases the toppled leader could face.

Saddam is also on trial separately on charges of genocide for the ''Anfal'' (Spoils of War) military operation against the country's ethnic Kurds in the late 1980s that killed tens of thousands.

Dulaimi said a death sentence against Saddam would plunge Iraq into a ''full scale civil war and allow Iran to take over Iraq and will have dire consequences for the stability'' of its oil rich Arab neighbours in the Gulf.

''This decision will bring full scale civil war and plunge the entire region into the unknown and push it to the abyss and will bring dire consequences,'' he said.

Dulaimi also said that despite a possible shift in the announcement of a verdict until after US midterm elections, it was clear that Washington would exploit a death sentence to ''boost the plunging popularity of President Bush.'' ''There is an verdict already taken by the court to eliminate President Saddam Hussein ... to salvage President Bush's popularity after the major losses his troops have suffered in Iraq,'' he said.

US interests in the region would be seriously threatened if Saddam was executed, Dulaimi said.

''You will risk endangering further your troops who have already lost control over Iraq and you will put in danger your interests and the stability and security of the entire region,'' the lawyer said in the letter.

Dulaimi said he would attend tomorrow's hearings of the Anfal trial after a month-long boycott after the dismissal of a chief judge seen as too lenient with Saddam.

But the defence would resume their boycott of hearings if the court showed intransigence over their demands for a fair trial.

Reuters