JURIST - Paper Chase: Saddam trial lawyer arrested for breaching court conduct rules

[JURIST] A judge in the Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive] ejected a defense lawyer from the courtroom Wednesday and ordered a day-long detention after the lawyer repeatedly addressed a prosecutor as "brother." Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa had previously warned Badih Aref, lawyer for former intelligence director Farhan al-Jubouri [TrialWatch profile], to respect courtroom formalities, and found Aref guilty of "violating professional conduct" rules. Last month, Aref boycotted proceedings after some 1,000 pages of his defense documents were stolen [JURIST report] from the lawyer's lounge in the Iraq Supreme Court building.

On Tuesday, Hussein sought to bar testimony [JURIST report] of an American forensic scientist during proceedings at his genocide trial, demanding a neutral witness from a country that was not involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Tuesday also saw a group of UN human rights experts urging officials not to execute Hussein [JURIST report] due to procedural and substantive flaws surrounding his conviction in his first trial. Hussein was sentenced to death [JURIST report] earlier this month for crimes against humanity [charging instrument, PDF] committed in the Iraqi town of Dujail [JURIST news archive; BBC trial timeline]. An appeals panel is expected to rule [JURIST report] on the verdict and sentence by mid-January 2007. Prosecutors hope to complete the Anfal trial before Hussein is executed. AFP has more.

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