Hussein Meets With a Lawyer for Second Time

Saddam Hussein was in good health and high spirits Wednesday on the eve of his 68th birthday, the chief of his legal team reported after a defense lawyer met with the deposed Iraqi dictator in Baghdad.

Hussein’s six-hour session with lawyer Khaleel Duleimi was his second meeting with a member of the Jordan-based legal team, headed by Ziad Khasawneh.

The ousted president was captured by U.S. forces near his hometown of Tikrit in December 2003 and has been in custody with several of his top aides at a U.S.-guarded facility near Baghdad’s international airport.

Hussein will be tried before the Iraqi Special Tribunal, established in late 2003. The tribunal has given no dates for trials.

In July, Hussein was arraigned, without defense counsel, in an Iraqi court on charges that included killing rival politicians during his 30-year rule, gassing Kurds, invading Kuwait in 1990 and suppressing Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991.

His legal team, which includes at least 22 lead lawyers and 1,500 volunteers, was appointed by his wife, Sajida Khairallah Telfah, and endorsed by him.

U.S. forces have refused to allow family members to see Hussein.

The lead lawyers come from several countries, including the United States, France, Jordan and Libya.

Most of the volunteer lawyers are from Arab countries.