Men in suits took slain Saddam trial lawyer-witnesses
reutersalertnet: A defence lawyer in the Saddam Hussein trial was dragged from his office by men who identified themselves as Interior Ministry employees before he was found shot dead, witnesses said on Friday.
The bullet-riddled body of Saadoun Janabi, an old friend of the former Iraqi dictator, was found about an hour after his abduction on Thursday night, police said.
Witnesses interviewed near Janabi's small Baghdad office said gunmen burst into the building on Thursday, about two hours after the breaking of the daytime fast which marks the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"We tried to help him but the gunmen told us to get away. They said they were from the Interior Ministry," said Mohammed Ibrahim, who works in the area.
Several witnesses said more than a dozen heavily armed men in suits and ties entered Janabi's office around 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) and dragged him into a car in the rundown Shaab district of Baghdad.
The witness accounts could not be independently verified, while an Interior Ministry spokesman said he had no information on the attack.
The ministry has repeatedly denied allegations from minority groups including some Sunni Arabs that it sanctions Shi'ite militia hit squads.
A senior government official strongly denied any involvement in the murder and said it stood ready to increase already tight security for the trial.
"Those suggestions are ridiculous and baseless. The government does not condone attacks against minorities and former figures in Saddam's Baath Party," national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told Reuters.
The government spokesman and senior diplomats in Baghdad have conceded, however, that there have been problems with armed, pro-government groups acting as vigilantes against minorities.
STRUCK OVER THE HEAD
Witnesses said the abduction was fast and efficient.
"They hit him over the head with their rifle butts," said Qusay Kamel, another witness, who works in a furniture shop beside Janabi's office building. "He didn't say anything."
Janabi was representing Awad al-Bander, a former top Iraqi judge who appeared in court with Saddam and six other men on Wednesday at the start of their trial on charges stemming from the killing of more than 140 Shi'ite men in the 1980s.
The bloody end of Janabi's professional career, which included a job in the Interior Ministry before Saddam became president, came one day after he stood up in court and complained the government was driving the trial. Read more
db: The prosecution gets security, the judges get security but, surprise, the defense team gets none. And don't expect this event to delay or derail the gallows train, because it wont.
If this can happen to a lawyer for the defense - what chance have the defense witnesses got?
The bullet-riddled body of Saadoun Janabi, an old friend of the former Iraqi dictator, was found about an hour after his abduction on Thursday night, police said.
Witnesses interviewed near Janabi's small Baghdad office said gunmen burst into the building on Thursday, about two hours after the breaking of the daytime fast which marks the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"We tried to help him but the gunmen told us to get away. They said they were from the Interior Ministry," said Mohammed Ibrahim, who works in the area.
Several witnesses said more than a dozen heavily armed men in suits and ties entered Janabi's office around 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) and dragged him into a car in the rundown Shaab district of Baghdad.
The witness accounts could not be independently verified, while an Interior Ministry spokesman said he had no information on the attack.
The ministry has repeatedly denied allegations from minority groups including some Sunni Arabs that it sanctions Shi'ite militia hit squads.
A senior government official strongly denied any involvement in the murder and said it stood ready to increase already tight security for the trial.
"Those suggestions are ridiculous and baseless. The government does not condone attacks against minorities and former figures in Saddam's Baath Party," national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told Reuters.
The government spokesman and senior diplomats in Baghdad have conceded, however, that there have been problems with armed, pro-government groups acting as vigilantes against minorities.
STRUCK OVER THE HEAD
Witnesses said the abduction was fast and efficient.
"They hit him over the head with their rifle butts," said Qusay Kamel, another witness, who works in a furniture shop beside Janabi's office building. "He didn't say anything."
Janabi was representing Awad al-Bander, a former top Iraqi judge who appeared in court with Saddam and six other men on Wednesday at the start of their trial on charges stemming from the killing of more than 140 Shi'ite men in the 1980s.
The bloody end of Janabi's professional career, which included a job in the Interior Ministry before Saddam became president, came one day after he stood up in court and complained the government was driving the trial. Read more
db: The prosecution gets security, the judges get security but, surprise, the defense team gets none. And don't expect this event to delay or derail the gallows train, because it wont.
If this can happen to a lawyer for the defense - what chance have the defense witnesses got?
posted by exoplanet at 4:02 PM
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