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By Country / Iraq

Lawyer: Hussein To Attend Next Court Session

December 20, 2005

Hussein in court (file photo) (AFP)

20 December 2005 -- One of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's defense lawyers said today that Hussein will attend his trial tomorrow after boycotting the previous hearing.

Khamis al-Ubeidi told Reuters that Hussein will appear "unless something unexpected happens."

Hussein refused to attend the last hearing (on 7 December) after dismissing the court as "unfair."

Meanwhile, some 100 Shi'ites demonstrated in the southern city of Amara, chanting "Death to Saddam."

The former president and seven other defendants are being tried in Baghdad for the killing of more than 140 Shi'ites after an assassination attempt on Hussein in the town of Al-Dujayl in 1982. All eight, who are pleading not guilty, face the death penalty if convicted.

(Reuters/AFP)

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Saddam Hussein Biography

For a timeline of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's life from his rise within the ranks of the Ba'ath Party and the Revolution Command Council to his regime's ruthless persecution of perceived enemies at home and abroad, click here.