Kidnapped lawyer 'dead': Union official
A senior lawyers’ union official in Baghdad has said the kidnapped lawyer of one of Saddam Hussein’s co-defendants has been killed and that his body has been found.
Police were searching the Iraqi capital Baghdad today for the lawyer, who was kidnapped by gunmen in an area known for suicide car bomb attacks and the killing of Shiite and Sunni Arab clerics.
Yesterday evening, 10 masked gunmen kidnapped lawyer Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, who was in the courtroom for Wednesday’s opening session of the trial, from his office in the eastern Shaab district. He is one of two lawyers for Awad Hamed al-Bandar, one of seven Baath Party officials being tried with Saddam.
As Iraqis prepared to attend services at mosques today, the Muslim day of worship, police searched areas in and around Baghdad’s Shaab district, where the gunmen pulled up outside al-Janabi’s office, broke into the building and dragged him out.
