Saddam Hussein's defense lawyers said Sunday they will boycott his genocide trial "indefinitely" when it resumes on Monday.

The claim was made after Saddam's defense team stormed out of the previous hearing last week because the Iraqi government fired the chief judge who had been criticized for allegedly favoring the defense.

The defense team will "suspend attending the trial sessions in protest against the judge's behavior," said Saddam's chief defense lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi.

"The court committed several violations of the law and we will not just sit there gagged to give it legitimacy," said al-Dulaimi, "the court will listen to our requests and that's when we'll go back to the courtroom."

The defense team walked out of the last hearing on Wednesday, as soon as the month-old trial resumed with a new judge. When his lawyers left the room, the former Iraqi president was thrown out of the court by the new chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa for protesting, and the trial was continued with court-appointed lawyers and Saddam's six co-defendants.

Al-Dulaimi also criticized the competence of the new chief judge, saying he "lacks the experience and the caliber needed in this trial."

But al-Khalifa said after the lawyers stormed out that he would appoint new lawyers if they refused to return. 　

Saddam and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed, also called "Chemical Ali" by Iraqis, face genocide charges for what prosecutors say are the deaths of 180,000 Kurds, mainly villagers, some poisoned with chemical gas. Five others face charges of murder and crimes against humanity; all could be hanged.

International legal rights groups criticized the sacking of the judge, saying it would hurt the legitimacy of the outcome of the historic trial.

But prosecutors said the original judge was allowing Saddam -- permitted under Iraqi law to address his accusers directly on a daily basis -- to intimidate frightened witnesses. At one hearing he told his accusers he would "crush their heads."

(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2006)