Lawyer of one of Saddam s co-defendants is kidnapped
10/20/2005BAGHDAD, Iraq Ten masked gunmen kidnapped the lawyer for one of Saddam Hussein s co-defendants today, police said.
Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, who was in the courtroom for Wednesday s opening session of the trial, is one of two lawyers for Awad Hamed al-Bandar, one of seven Baath Party officials being tried with Saddam.
The gunmen pulled up outside al-Janabi s office in Baghdad s eastern Shaab district in the evening, broke into the building and dragged him out, said Police Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi of the Interior Ministry.
Al-Janabi was one of 13 defense lawyers in Wednesday s session, seated at desks along the side of the courtroom. Some of the lawyers were shown in the television broadcast of the trial, but it was not immediately known if al-Janabi appeared.
Identities of the five judges and the prosecutors in Saddam s trial have been kept secret to prevent insurgent reprisals. The names of the chief judge and the top prosecutor were the only ones revealed, and only on the day of the trial, when they both appeared extensively in the broadcast.
Defense attorneys names have not been hidden although the lawyers of Saddam s co-defendants have not been widely publicized. Saddam had two lawyers at the trial, Khalil al-Dulaimi and Khamis al-Ubaidi.
Saddam and his co-defendants are on trial for murder, torture, forced expulsion and illegal imprisonment for an 1982 massacre of Shiites in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad. They could face the death sentence if convicted.
The kidnapped lawyer s client, al-Bandar, was the head of Saddam s Revolutionary Court at the time of the massacre and is accused of issuing execution orders against 148 Dujail residents.
BAGHDAD, Iraq A journalist for a British newspaper who was kidnapped by gunmen was released unharmed today after a day in captivity, the publication said.
Rory Carroll, 33, an Irish citizen who is The Guardian s Baghdad correspondent, was on assignment when he was abducted by gunmen on Wednesday.
He just said, I am safe and well and I have all my limbs on, Carroll s father, Joe, said in a story posted on the Guardian Web site.
A resident of Baghdad s Sadr City neighborhood who was involved in winning the journalist s release told The Associated Press that he was sitting next to Carroll after his release. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want his involvement in the release to be known.
The resident said Carroll was kidnapped by criminals and that a group of Sadr City residents raided the area in which he was held and freed him.
His account of the release could not be confirmed.
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