The chief judge ejected one of Saddam Hussein's defense lawyers on Wednesday for "insulting the court" in the ousted Iraqi president's trial for genocide in a military offensive against Kurds in the 1980s.
After the stormy start to the session, a US forensic scientist testified about his examination of bodies found in a mass grave in northern Iraq, noting they appeared to have been shot by a firing squad. According to the AP, defense lawyer Badie Arif Ezzat was ejected after he tried to object to the foreign experts the prosecution has called in to testify the past two days.
When he referred to the prosecution and judges as "brother" rather than by their titles, chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa warned him to respect the court. But Ezzat repeated the phrase and al-Khalifa ordered him removed and detained for 24 hours for "insulting the court."
Over the past two days, the court has been listening to US forensic specialists testifying on their 1992 investigation of a mass grave where 27 bodies were located in the Kurdish village of Koreme.
Douglas Scott, a forensic archaeologist at the University of Nebraska, said he examined cartridge cases and bullets found among the bodies. At least seven gunmen "in a firing-squad type organization" fired 124 rounds from Kalashnikov assault rifles at the victims, he said.
