Hussein execution too risky, lawyer says

AMMAN, JORDAN —  Saddam Hussein’s chief lawyer warned Sunday of worsening violence in Iraq and chaos across the Mideast if the ex-president is sentenced to death at his trial for a crackdown on a Shiite Muslim village in the 1980s.

Khalil Dulaimi also said he would break a monthlong boycott and attend proceedings today when Hussein’s second trial resumes on separate charges of genocide against the Kurds.

A verdict in Hussein’s first trial is expected Sunday, although the chief prosecutor said it might be delayed to give judges more time to review testimony.

Hussein and seven others are charged with crimes against humanity in connection with the killing of 148 Shiites from Dujayl after a 1982 assassination attempt against him. Conviction, which can be appealed, carries a maximum penalty of death by hanging.

Dulaimi also said he warned of a civil war in a letter sent recently to President Bush. “I warned him against the death penalty and against any other decision that would inflame a civil war in Iraq and send fire throughout the region,” he said.