From correspondents in Amman
November 21, 2005

A JORDANIAN member of Saddam Hussein's defence team said overnight that his lawyers would "never abandon" the deposed Iraqi leader and will defend him in court at the risk of their lives.

"We will never abandon our client, the president, under no circumstances" Issam Ghazzawi said, nine days before Saddam's trial was set to resume in Baghdad.

"We will continue to defend him even if we are killed," he said in reference to the murder of two lawyers of Saddam's co-defendants last month after the start of the trial on October 19.

"We are not boycotting the court. We suspended going to court because of the lack of security" Mr Ghazzawi said.

"But we will go to court if they give us protection or not. We cannot abandon the president but it is our right to ask for protection," he added

Earlier this month Saddam's defence team said in a statement released in Baghdad that lawyers of the jailed former Iraqi leader would stay away from the trial which is set to resume November 28.

"Because of the murders of members of the collective who carry out their work in a professional and independent way, 1,100 lawyers have withdrawn and ended their collaboration," the statement said.

The lawyers complained about "the refusal by the government, American forces and international bodies to protect (the lawyers) and their families."

The Iraqi authorities have said that an offer of additional police protection was turned down following the abduction and assassination last month of Saadun Janabi, who was acting for one of Saddam's co-defendants.

Mr Janabi, who represented Awad Ahmad al-Bandar, a former chief judge of Iraq's revolutionary court and deputy head of Saddam's office, was found dead on October 21, two days after the high-profile trial opened in Baghdad.

A second lawyer, Adel Mohammed Abbas, was shot dead on November 8 when gunmen opened fire on him and lawyer Tamer Hammud Hadi in Baghdad. Abbas represented former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan.

Hadi, wounded in the attack, works on the defence of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother and former head of the Mukhabarat intelligence services.

Saddam and seven former aides are on trial on charges related to a 1982 massacre of more than 140 Shiite villagers from Dujail, north of the capital