Hussein Defense Lawyer Kidnapped, Killed

BAGHDAD, June 21 -- Gunmen kidnapped and killed the No. 2 lawyer on Saddam Hussein's defense team, making him the third attorney for Iraq's former president to be murdered during the crimes against humanity trial.

The body of Khamis al-Obaidi was found shot dead Wednesday on a Baghdad street near a shopping center in the Ur neighborhood, said Gen. Mohammed al-Dulaimi of the Interior Ministry. He said Obaidi was kidnapped in the city's upscale Mansur neighborhood before the killing.

Hussein's chief defense attorney, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said by phone from his home in Amman, Jordan, that he believes Shiite Muslim militiamen were responsible for the killing.

"The defense team did its utmost efforts to reveal the truth in defending the legitimate president of Iraq and his colleagues, which is the thing [the militias] don't want," Dulaimi said.

Hussein and seven of his subordinates are on trial for crimes against humanity for allegedly orchestrating the killing of 148 Shiite villagers, following a failed assassination attempt against Hussein in 1982.

The prosecution made its closing statements in Baghdad on Monday, seeking the death penalty for Hussein and two other co-defendants. Court was then adjourned until July 10.

Over the past eight months, the trial has been disrupted repeatedly by outbursts from the defendants, the resignation of judges and the killings of two other defense attorneys.

Two days after the tribunal convened in October, defense attorney Saadoun Janabi was found dumped outside a mosque with two bullet holes in his head. Less than a month later, gunmen ambushed a car transporting attorney Adil Zubeidi and another defense attorney in Baghdad. Zubeidi was killed, and the other lawyer was seriously injured.

Defense attorneys have demanded that the trial be moved out of Iraq to protect them, to no avail. Human rights activists have questioned whether it is possible to hold a fair trial amid such violence.

Interior Ministry officials said no one has claimed responsibility for the killing of Obaidi, who represented Hussein and his half brother Barzan Ibrahim during the trial.

Defense attorney Dulaimi said American forces should have made more of an effort to protect his colleagues and vowed to press on despite the violence.

"The continuous killings of the president's attorneys is a clear plot to close the mouth of the truth," he said. "But they won't be able to. We will continue working on revealing the truth."

Special Correspondent Saad Al-Izzi and other Washington Post staff contributed to this report.