However, a source close to one of the defence teams based in Amman said details were still being worked out and said an offer had only been made to protect three lawyers' families, not the whole team of lawyers, who number around a dozen. Khalil Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, called Reuters on Sunday from an undisclosed location to say he would attend the next trial session only if his security concerns were met.
The U.S. official said the Iraqi High Tribunal, the U.S.- supported body conducting the trial, had made arrangements to have court-appointed counsel take over defence responsibilities if defendant-appointed lawyers did not show. The defence lawyers, backed by the Iraqi Bar Association, imposed a boycott after two members of the defence teams were shot and killed days after the trial began on Oct. 19, plunging proceedings into chaos. Another lawyer, who survived one of those assassination attempts, fled Iraq earlier this month after he received persistent death threats. He has sought refuge in Qatar.
The killings and death threats prompted calls for the trial to be moved abroad, but the tribunal charged with bringing Saddam and members of his regime to justice insists that this trial and all future ones will take place in Iraq.
The next session of the first case will kick off on Monday, Nov. 28. Saddam and seven co-defendants are charged with crimes against humanity in the deaths of 148 Shi'ite men following an attempt on Saddam's life in 1982. Barring another successful motion by the defence for a delay, the trial is expected to proceed uninterrupted for several days, with witnesses appearing in court for the first time under intense security restrictions. It is not clear how long the trial will last, but some officials have estimated it could go on for several months. With Iraq holding elections on Dec. 15, raising security risks, another trial delay ahead of then is widely expected.
Since the opening three-hour session in October, the five- judge panel trying the case has heard testimony from a hospitalised former intelligence chief who has since died. Defence lawyers did not attend that bedside session. The chief judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, told Reuters after the first session that around 30 witnesses due to give evidence had refused to come to Baghdad from Dujail, where the attempt on Saddam's life took place, because they feared for their lives.
Security, including a witness protection programme, has been bolstered since then and several witnesses will appear on Monday, the U.S. official said, although he could not say how many. At least some are expected to give evidence from behind a screen to protect their identities. "It's up to individual witnesses to decide whether they appear and how they appear," said the official. "I expect the court will hear witness testimony on (Monday) and for several days thereafter ... that is the plan," he said.
