WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2006 The Associated Press BAGHDAD -Saddam Hussein was not present Wednesday at a new session of his trial, which his lawyers boycotted after demanding the removal of the chief judge, who they claim is biased against the former Iraqi leader.
The session was opened to the public after the chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, held a half-hour closed session, barring press and television from the courtroom. It was not clear whether Saddam was brought in for closed proceedings.
But the former Iraqi leader and four other defendants were not present when the public was allowed in. Only three defendants attended, with court-appointed defense lawyers.
The chief prosecutor, Jaafar al-Moussawi, asked the judge to force all the defendants to attend. Abdel-Rahman ruled that the court proceedings would continue, but that the request would be considered in the next hearings.
Saddam and at least three other defendants have refused to work with the court-appointed defense lawyers whom Abdel-Rahman installed during a stormy session on Sunday.
"If they force my client to attend the session, the president and his companions will not obey his orders, and they could stand beside their chairs rather than sitting," Saddam's chief attorney, Khaled al-Dulaimi, said earlier Wednesday. Dulaimi did not even come to Iraq for Wednesday's session, staying instead in Amman.
In Sunday's session, Abdel-Rahman tried to bring control to the court, throwing out one defendant and a defense lawyer. The entire defense team walked out in protest, and Saddam was escorted out after he rejected the new court-appointed attorneys.
The defense team now says it will boycott the trial until Abdel-Rahman is replaced. They pointed to the fact that Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, was born in the village of Halabja, which was subjected to a 1988 poison gas attack allegedly ordered by Saddam. An estimated 5,000 Kurds were killed in that attack, including several of Abdel-Rahman's relatives.
Bomb kills 8 in Baghdad
A bomb exploded alongside a group of men waiting for work in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday, police said, killing at least eight people and wounding more than 50, The Associated Press reported.
Colonel Ahmed Abboud, chief of police in the New Baghdad area where the explosion took place, cited witnesses as saying a man placed a bag full of explosives near a cart that sold tea to men waiting near a crowded intersection for a day's work. Several police officials reported that the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber wearing an explosives-packed belt.
