Iraqi police confirmed on Wednesday that one of Saddam's chief defense lawyers, Khamis al-Obeidi, had been killed and said the lawyer had been earlier abducted in Baghdad. According to Reuters, police said Obeidi was shot dead and his body was hung on a post near the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said, according to the AP.
State television in Iraq said al-Obeidi was shot dead by "terrorists." Court officials told the AP al-Obaidi was abducted from his home by men wearing police uniforms.
Al-Obeidi, who was in his 50s and had six children, was the third member of Saddam's defense team to be killed since the former leader's trial strted on Oct. 19.
Unlike other defense lawyers, who shuttle between Amman, Jordan, and the Iraqi capital, al-Obeidi chose to continue living in Baghdad during the trial despite. He lived in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah in northern Baghdad.
Bushra al-Khalil, a Lebanese member of the defense team, said al-Obeidi was taken from his house early Wednesday by men dressed in police uniforms and driving four vehicles used by Iraqi security forces. "They blindfolded him and took him away," said al-Khalil. "No one can go out during curfew time in Baghdad."
Meanwhile, a parked car bomb went off near an ice cream shop in Sadr City on Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding eight, police Capt. Sattar Jabar said.
