Saddam Begins Hunger Strike As Trial Protest

Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader, and three co-defendants have begun a hunger strike in protest at the manner in which their trials for crimes against humanity are being conducted and the killing of one of their defence lawyers.

A spokesman said all four were in good health despite refusing to eat since last Friday. However, Saddam's lawyer claimed the protest had lasted seven days. Khalil al-Dulaimi told Reuters: "President Saddam Hussein's health has started to deteriorate because he is on a hunger strike for the seventh straight day and he is refusing to end the hunger strike."

A spokesman for the US military's detentions command said the men first refused an evening meal on July 7, but said Saddam was "drinking coffee with sugar and water" and still taking medication.

The trial of the 69-year-old former president and his senior co-accused was adjourned on Tuesday until July 24, when court-appointed lawyers are due to sum up in Saddam's defence. The men's lawyers are boycotting proceedings to further their demands for a full inquiry into the killing of defence lawyer Khamis al-Obaidi last month.

Yesterday, hours after the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, warned his countrymen that the chances of peace were receding, clashes erupted between gunmen with rocket-propelled grenades and police and residents in Um al-Maalif, a mainly Shia neighbourhood in southern Baghdad. At least two people were killed.

Security forces also said the bodies of 20 bus drivers kidnapped earlier in the day from a bus station in religiously mixed Miqdadiya, north of Baghdad, had been found blindfolded and bound in a nearby village.