BAGHDAD, Feb. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The defense team of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants called upon the international community on Monday to pressure the United States to free Saddam.

Chief judge Raouf Rasheed Abdul Rahman presides over the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants in Baghdad, Feb. 2, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP)

   "We appeal to the whole international community to put pressure on the U.S. administration in order to release the kidnapped President - Mr. Saddam Hussein and his comrades -, withdraw the invading forces from Iraq and to restore the status quo before April 9, 2003," Saddam's lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said in astatement.

   Dulaimi said that the U.S. authorities in Iraq, which held Saddam and his aides in custody, prevented all the lawyers in the defense team from meeting with their clients.

   "President Saddam and his comrades are detained in very bad conditions. They are denied their rights to a fair and impartial trial," Dulaimi said.

   Earlier, Saddam and his defense team declared their boycott of court sessions in protest against the newly appointed chief judge Raouf Rasheed Abdul Rahman, accusing Rahman of "unfair" handling of the trial proceedings.

   Saddam, who was toppled by the U.S.-led forces in April 2003, and his defense team also demanded Rahman's resignation.

   The chief judge appointed four new attorneys for the defendants to replace their defense lawyers, which was rejected by Saddam and some of his aides. 

   Saddam and his seven aides are facing charges of crimes against humanity, including the killing of over 140 Shiite men in a northern village following a failed assassination attempt on Saddam in 1982.

   If convicted, they might face the death penalty.  Enditem