For the second time in a week, the chief judge in the Saddam Hussein genocide trial ordered the deposed leader from the courtroom. Hussein was also ejected on Wednesday. The verbal jousting began about two hours into Monday's court session as chief judge Mohammad Orabi Majeed Al-Khalefa corrected two other defendants in the case, telling them not to refer to each other by their old titles under the former regime. Hussein's genocide trial had resumed Monday but without lawyers representing the ex-president or his six co-defendants. Hussein's nine-member defense team announced Sunday that it would boycott the proceedings, citing the replacement of the chief judge and other alleged violations of legal procedures. Khalil al-Dulaimi, Hussein's chief lawyer, told The Associated Press that he and other defense lawyers would boycott the trial "indefinitely." Al-Dulaimi also protested the court's refusal to hear non-Iraqi lawyers and its demand that foreign attorneys seek permission to enter the courtroom. Among Hussein's nine lawyers are a Jordanian, a Spaniard, a Frenchman and two Americans, including former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
