Saddam on hunger strike to protest lawyer's murder

BAGHDAD: Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has gone on hunger strike to protest the killing of his lawyer, his lead lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said today.

"Saddam and 55 other detainees (former regime officials) are on a hunger strike since Wednesday after the killing of Khamis al-Obeidi," Dulaimi told AFP.

Dulaimi said Saddam and the others wanted US and international committees to give guarantees "for the security of the other defense lawyers."

He said he came to know of the strike "through our special contacts."

A US military spokesman, on being contacted about the protest, said he was "unaware of the strike and will check it out."

Dulaimi said the defence team had even contacted the "United Nations and the Arab League and other parties concerning the trial to do everything to protect the lawyers."

Obeidi was the third defence lawyer for Saddam and his seven former henchmen to have been killed since their trial on charges of crimes against humanity started in October.

Obeidi was kidnapped on Wednesday by about 20 men from his home and later shot dead in the middle of a Baghdad street.