Saddam lawyer is ‘not surprised’

AMMAN: Saddam Hussein’s defence lawyer said on Tuesday he is not surprised that an Iraqi appeal court has upheld a death sentence on the deposed dictator.

“The court of appeal’s verdict was expected,” Khalil al-Dulaimi, who leads Saddam’s legal defence team, told AFP in the Jordanian capital Amman. “We were not at all surprised, as we are convinced that that this has been — 100 per cent — a political trial.”

A panel of Iraqi judges earlier on Tuesday upheld the death sentence that was given to Saddam in November for his role in the execution of 148 Shiites following a 1982 assassination attempt against him. Dulaimi alleged that the court of appeal’s decision on Tuesday “emanated from one man, Muwafaq Rubaie”, the Iraqi national security adviser.