"He spends his days praying and reading the Quran and other books," Dulaimi told Reuters as he announced that the defence team would boycott further dealings with the tribunal trying Saddam and his aides for crimes against humanity.
"Saddam is a prisoner of war," he said, calling on the United Nations and United States to press the Iraqi court to release the former leader. Saddam was arrested in December 2003 after he was found by US troops, hiding in a hole near his home town of Tikrit.
DEFENCE TEAM BOYCOTTS TRIAL Lawyers for Saddam Hussein and his aides severed all contact with the court trying the former Iraqi president on Wednesday after the second murder of a member of the defence team since the trial began last month.
Attorneys representing Saddam and seven co-accused on charges of crimes against humanity considered a second day of hearings set for November 28 to be "cancelled and illegitimate", lead counsel Khalil al-Dulaimi told Reuters.
Interviewed in the Sunni Arab rebel stronghold of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, he said he felt personally threatened and renewed demands for the United Nations to intervene to stop the trial following Tuesday's killing of lawyer Adil al-Zubeidi.
"We're facing daily threats and these threats prevent us from going to our offices and the court and from interviewing the witnesses," Dulaimi said. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the attacks undermined efforts to uphold the rule of law.
"It is vitally important that the security of all involved with the tribunal should be equally assured to ensure a trial free from intimidation and coercion," Annan said through his spokeswoman, Marie Okabe.