The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants resumes in a fortified Baghdad courtroom on Monday with former US attorney general Ramsey Clark joining the team defending Iraq's overthrown president.
Clark, a controversial figure who was the top US attorney in the late 1960s before becoming an anti-Vietnam war activist and a defender of figures including Slobodan Milosevic, said he hoped to strengthen Saddam's defence.
"Our plan is to go to court in Baghdad on Monday morning representing the defence counsel as defence support," Clark told Reuters in Amman on Sunday before flying to the Iraqi capital.
"A fair trial in this case is absolutely imperative for historical truth," the 77-year-old said.
"It is absolutely essential that the court is legal in its constitution. A court cannot be a court unless it is absolutely independent of all external pressures and forces."
Clark will be joined by the former justice minister of Qatar, Najeeb al-Nauimi, lending an international aspect to proceedings which have until now been entirely Iraqi-run.
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