By SINAN SALAHEDDIN
The Associated Press - Monday, May 22, 2006; 5:58 PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Guards pulled the sole woman on Saddam Hussein's defense team from the court Monday after she had a shouting match with the chief judge, prompting her to throw off her lawyer's robe in rage.

Defense lawyers raised an uproar over the removal of Bushra al-Khalil, accusing the chief judge of trying to intimidate them.

Saddam also had a heated exchange with chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman after objecting to al-Khalil's removal. The judge told him to be silent, and Saddam shouted back: "I'm Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq! I am above you and above your father!"

"You are a defendant now, not a president!" the judge barked, banging his gavel.

The stormy scene was a new distraction in the 7-month-long trial after several weeks of remarkable order. During that time, the prosecution wrapped up its case and the defense has started presenting witnesses.

U.S. officials observing the court have said the proceedings could finish by late June, after which the judges would adjourn to consider their verdict. Saddam and his regime members are being tried for a crackdown against Shiites in the town of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt on Saddam there.

Hundreds of men, women and children were arrested. Some allegedly were tortured to death and 148 Shiites were sentenced to death by Saddam's Revolutionary Court for alleged roles in the assassination attempt.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants could be hanged if convicted.

Abdel-Rahman took his post as chief judge at the beginning of the year after his predecessor was criticized for letting the defendants delay the trial with outbursts and speeches. Abdel-Rahman has taken a tough line, throwing out several lawyers and defendants to impose order.

In an April 5 session, he removed al-Khalil when she raised an objection.

The Lebanese-born al-Khalil was back in court Monday, and Abdel-Rahman opened the session by saying he would remove her again if she caused any disturbance.

It only took a few words from al-Khalil for that to happen.

"Please, I want to know what procedures have I broken," she said.

Abdel-Rahman snapped at her, "Sit down!"

"I would like to know what they are so that I do not repeat them," she said.

"Sit down!" the judge shouted again, then yelled at the guards to take her away.

In anger, al-Khalil pulled off her black lawyer's robe and threw it on the floor, then tried to push away the guards grabbing her hands.

"Get away from me!" she shouted. "Don't touch me! I am a Muslim woman!"

Later, an Egyptian defense lawyer loudly objected to her expulsion, accusing Abdel-Rahman of trying to "intimidate and frighten us." That sparked another argument with the judge, who let him off with a warning.

Al-Khalil said Abdel-Rahman may be singling her out for harsh treatment because she is a woman. "Some people say he has a complex about women," she told The Associated Press.

She also said she believed she was being targeted because she is the sole Shiite Muslim on the defense team. "There is a decision to distance me because I come from a well-known Shiite family," said al-Khalil.

Many of Iraq's Shiites and Kurds are eager to see Saddam executed because of his regime's oppression of their communities. Abdel-Rahman is a Kurd, and the defense has accused him of bias against Saddam.

After the squabble, three defense witnesses testified with little interruption. They included the highest-ranking member of Saddam's inner circle to take the stand so far, his half brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a former presidential adviser who has been in U.S. custody since February 2005.

The first witness of the day was Murshid Mohammed Jassim, a former employee of the Revolutionary Court, headed at the time of the 1984 Dujail trial by defendant Awad al-Bandar. Jassim insisted the court was fair, though he acknowledged he did not work there at the time of the Dujail trial.

Al-Bandar was allowed to question Jassim, asking him: "Did I ever throw any lawyers out of the court, even if they stepped out of bounds?"

"No, never," Jassim replied, then turned to Abdel-Rahman to add: "He was never angry, he let people speak. He would never do that."

The prosecution has argued the Shiites were convicted in a show trial in which they had no chance to defend themselves. Al-Bandar has admitted there was only one defense lawyer for all 148 detainees and that the trial lasted only 16 days, but he has insisted the proceedings were fair.

The next witness, al-Hassan, was on the list of 55 most-wanted regime figures when U.S. forces invaded Iraq in 2003. He was suspected of being a leading financier of the anti-U.S. insurgency and was arrested in Syria.

Al-Hassan insisted his full brother, former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, had no role in the crackdown on Shiites in Dujail.

"He told me that he only went there (to Dujail) to check if what happened was due to any neglect from the guards and that he didn't take part in anything else," al-Hassan said.

He also praised Saddam, saying he was more angry than the former president over the assassination attempt. He said Saddam tried to calm him, saying, "Please, don't blame the people of Dujail."

"Mr. President doesn't have the spirit of revenge and aggression, and there is no hatred in his heart. He is brave and generous. He is my big brother and I'm proud of that," al-Hassan said.