'Healthy' Saddam sees his lawyer after 12-month wait
Saddam Hussein held talks with his defence lawyer today – the first meeting since his capture a year ago.
Ziad al-Khasawneh, the head of the toppled Iraqi dictator’s legal team, said Saddam had four hours of talks.
He declined to identify the lawyer, but said he was Iraqi and that the meeting took place at Saddam’s undisclosed detention site in Baghdad.
“He was in good health and his morale was high and very strong,” al-Khasawneh said. “He looked much better that his earlier public appearance when he was arraigned a few months ago.”
He provided few details on the meeting.
Al-Khasawneh said he did not know when Saddam, who was arraigned in July, would next be brought to court.
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said that war crimes trials against Iraq’s former Baath Party leaders will begin next week. Saddam will not be among those to appear in court.
Many members of Iraq’s deposed regime have been in jail for more than a year, and few have been able to meet with lawyers.
Saddam’s Jordan-based lawyers have complained that they have not seen the fallen dictator and accused the Iraqi and US governments of breaching his right to an lawyer.
Saddam has been held at an unspecified US-controlled jail since he was captured on December 13 last year, eight months after he was toppled in the US-led war.
Saddam’s legal team, which includes 20 lead lawyers and 1,500 volunteers, was appointed by Saddam’s wife Sajida. The lead lawyers come from various countries including the United States, France, Jordan and Libya.
