BAGHDAD — Gunmen killed a second defense lawyer in the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants on Tuesday, throwing the controversial proceedings into greater turmoil and casting new doubt on the credibility of the tribunal.
Adel Zubeidi, who was representing former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, was slain in a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad. Thamer Hamoud Khuzai, another lawyer for the former vice president, was wounded.
Zubeidi's slaying came nearly three weeks after the killing of Saadoun Janabi, who was defending Awad Hamed Bandar, the former head of Hussein's Revolutionary Court. Hussein, Ramadan and Bandar are among eight former government leaders charged with planning and ordering the revenge killings of 146 people from the town of Dujayl, where a 1982 assassination attempt against the former president took place. All of them face possible death sentences.
Iraqi authorities said they had no suspects in the case, and the motive remained unclear. Some analysts speculated that Hussein's enemies were trying to weaken his defense and make a death sentence more likely. Others asserted that Hussein supporters may be trying to discredit and derail the proceedings.
The slaying raised new questions about whether the trial should be moved out of the country. Even before the killings, legal experts were questioning whether the tribunal -- set up without U.N. authorization -- was legitimate or fair.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have defended the decision to hold the trial in Iraq, saying that bringing the former dictator and his aides to justice on their home soil sends an important message to a country that lived for so long under often brutal repression.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times less than 24 hours before he was wounded by gunfire, Khuzai complained about the dangers facing him and his colleagues.
"We don't think this trial is working well because of the risks we're facing," Khuzai said. "The country is filled with political militias."
The remaining dozen or so defense attorneys in the case have promised to boycott the trial, which convened Oct. 19 and then recessed until Nov. 28 to give both sides time to prepare. "We will boycott the tribunal, and we demand that it should take place in another country," defense lawyer Majid Sadoon said after the attack. "There is no security, nor stability."
