A central argument of the defense team is that the special tribunal, established in December by the occupying American authority, is illegitimate because there was no legal basis for invading Iraq.
"Everything based on something illegal is illegal," Rashdan said.
M. Cherif Bassiouni, an international law expert at DePaul University in Chicago, said some of the defense team's arguments were stronger than others.
Bassiouni said the immunity issue is a non-starter because Iraqi law specifically excludes "international crimes" from immunity. But he said that because the tribunal was formed under American rule, legal questions can be raised about its legitimacy.
Bassiouni also said that the legal basis for charging Saddam in connection with the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 may rest with a little-known Iraqi law passed in 1958 that made it a crime to use force against another Arab state.
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