AMMAN, July 30: An unidentified man attacked ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during a court hearing in Baghdad on Thursday and the pair exchanged blows, his defence team said on Saturday. “As the president was leaving the courtroom a person... attacked the president and there was a fist-fight between them,” the Jordan-based team said in a statement.

“The head of the court did not intervene to stop the assault,” it said. It was not clear if Saddam, who is in US custody awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity during his iron-fisted rule, was hurt during the assault or if he received any medical treatment, his lawyers said.

Thursday’s hearing of the Iraqi Special Tribunal related to possible charges against Saddam over the brutal suppression of a Shia uprising in 1991 following the Gulf War that ended Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait.

The lawyers said the attacker was among a group of people in court unknown to Saddam’s Iraqi lawyer Khalil Dulaimi who was at the hearing. Abdel Haq Alani, a British lawyer and consultant for the defence team, said he has advised Saddam’s lawyers to boycott any further proceedings and branded Thursday’s incident a “mockery of justice”.

“I cannot imagine how a court that has any respect for the proceedings, would allow anybody from outside to sit in court and take action. This is not a trial and there should be no spectators,” Alani told AFP. The defence team said Dulaimi was told to boycott the court until its requests were met and demanded protection for Saddam.—AFP