Lawyers denied access to Saddam

Baghdad: Chief lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi for former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein says that he has been denied access to his client.

Dulaimi's defence team had sought the removal of the new Khurdish Judge last week.

The team claimed that the judge - Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman - could not be impartial as his hometown had been attacked by Iraqi forces in 1988.

In protest of the judge's appointment, Saddam has refused to appear in court.

Dulaimi says the action of the US official is illegal.

There has been no immediate response from the US officials in Baghdad.

Saddam along with seven defendants are on trial over the massacre of 148 Shiites from the village of Dujail after an assassination attempt on Saddam in 1982 and face the death penalty if convicted.