Iraqi guards at Saddam Hussein's trial manhandled a defense lawyer from the court on Monday before witnesses, including one of the former president's half-brothers, gave testimony for some of his co-defendants. Lebanese attorney Bushra Khalil, a vocal presence in previous televised appearances for the defense, yelled in protest and threw off her black court robe. "Are you a lawyer or a gang boss?" Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman barked at Khalil, who slapped the hand of a guard as he dragged her out of the chamber. | "A gang boss. Why do you ask?" |
Saddam's half-brother Sabbawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti appeared as a witness to speak in defense of his own full brother Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam's former intelligence chief. Sabbawi said he would also later testify for Saddam. He described himself as a "presidential adviser until April 9, 2003" -- the day Saddam fled U.S. forces invading Baghdad. Sabbawi, like his brothers Barzan and Watban, has been in U.S. custody. The three brothers are sons of Saddam's mother's second marriage.