AMMAN, July 25: Defence lawyers for hunger-striking former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein said on Tuesday they were ‘profoundly worried’ about his health and vowed to pursue their boycott of the trial.

Saddam and three of his former aides went on hunger strike July 7, according to their US jailers, in protest at their treatment and the way their trial on charges of crimes against humanity was being run.

The defence team, based in neighbouring Jordan, said in a statement they were “worried for the health of president Saddam Hussein and his comrades in the light of contradictory news about his state of health.”

Over the weekend, prosecutors said that 68-year-old Saddam’s hunger strike was harming his health and had led to him being given hospital treatment, but on Monday a spokesman for Saddam’s US jailers said his life was not in danger.

His lawyers who boycotted the latest hearing on Monday said it suffered from “juridical illegalities” and said in their statement they would continue to stay away from the trial.—AFP