BAGHDAD, May 22: Iraqi guards at Saddam Hussein’s trial manhandled a defence lawyer from the court on Monday before witnesses, including one of the former president’s half-brothers, gave testimony for some of his co-defendants.

Lebanese attorney Bushra Khalil, a vocal presence in previous televised appearances for the defence, yelled in protest and threw off her black court robe.

“Are you a lawyer or a gang boss?” Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman barked at Bushra Khalil, who slapped the hand of a guard as he dragged her out of the chamber.

Amid the clamour, Saddam Hussein stood to object and declared: “I am the president of Iraq”, only to be told sharply by Abdul Rahman: “No you are a defendant.”

Saddam’s half-brother Sabbawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti appeared as a witness to speak in defence of his own full brother Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam’s former intelligence chief.

Mr Sabbawi said he would also later testify for Saddam. He described himself as a ‘presidential adviser until April 9, 2003,’ — the day Baghdad fell to US-led forces.

Mr Sabbawi, like his brothers Barzan and Watban, has been in US custody. The three brothers are sons of Saddam’s mother’s second marriage.

At the start of the hearing, lawyer Khalil had objected to her ejection from court in a previous session. After the argument with Abdul Rahman rose in pitch, he ordered her removed from court and described her behaviour as ‘an insult to justice’.—Reuters