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Hussein judge brother-in-law shot dead

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Gunmen in western Baghdad have shot dead the brother-in-law of the new chief judge in the Saddam Hussein trial, police told CNN.

Kadhim Abdel Hussein, the brother-in-law of Judge Mohammad Orabi Majeed Al-Khalefa, was driving in Ghazaliya on Friday with his son aged 10 and another 10-year-old boy when their car was attacked.

Both boys were wounded. Earlier police said the slain man's son, Karrar, was also killed.

After the incident, the judge called police and told them that the dead man was his brother-in-law.

It was unclear whether Hussein was targeted because of his relationship to Al-Khalefa, who took over as chief judge of the trial last week, or if it was another of the sectarian attacks that have been plaguing Baghdad.

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and six co-defendants are being tried in connection with war crimes during the 1988 Anfal campaign in the country's Kurdish region.

Meanwhile at least 11 Iraqi civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb detonated in central Baghdad Friday morning, Iraqi emergency police said.

Police also said they found 25 unidentified bodies across the capital during the 24-hour period ending Friday at 6 a.m. Since Sunday, 147 bodies have been recovered in Baghdad.

Al-Khalefa was appointed chief judge only last week after the government sacked his predecessor for telling Hussein the former president was "not a dictator."

One Iraqi lawyer familiar with court procedure told Reuters the tribunal's appeals panel would probably now have to review whether Ureybi could continue to preside and might conclude that he would have to step down on the grounds that the killings of his relatives might prejudice him against the defendants.

Three defense lawyers working for Hussein and his co-accused have been killed over the past year and international legal rights groups have questioned whether he can have a fair trial in a country on the brink of sectarian civil war.

Al-Khalefa is from the majority Shi'ite community now dominant in Iraq after years of oppression under Hussein's mostly Sunni rule. He has taken a firm line with the accused in the month-old trial for genocide against the Kurds and has ejected Hussein from court in each of the three sessions over which he has presided.

Tribunal judges, like leading Iraqi politicians, live under tight security. Militants have frequently targeted the relatives of prominent figures, seeking easier targets because the family members enjoy considerably less -- if any -- protection.

On Thursday a man identified as the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq said on an audiotape that more than 4,000 foreign fighters have died battling the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi troops.

"We poured so much of our blood in Iraq," said the tape's speaker, purportedly new al Qaeda in Iraq chief Abu Hamza al-Muhajer.

CNN was unable to verify the speaker's identity. The tape, at 20 minutes, 31 seconds long, was posted on several Islamic Web sites Thursday.

The speaker urged other Muslims in Iraq to join the fight, saying he was launching a major military campaign.

"We are calling upon you to take your responsibilities because we are on crossroads, so don't fail us," the voice said, especially calling on Iraqi professionals such as chemists, physicists and nuclear experts to help.

Al-Muhajer, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, is an Egyptian Islamic militant believed to be an expert in producing car bombs.

He succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who died June 7 in a U.S. airstrike north of Baghdad.

The tape's speaker also pushed for the kidnapping of "Christian dogs" who could be exchanged for Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian Muslim cleric imprisoned since 1995 for conspiring to blow up landmarks in New York.

"I remind you of our dear sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is lying in an American jail undergoing all kinds of abuses -- psychological and physical abuses. I tell him don't be sad. God will bring good news after the hardship," the speaker said.

"I here announce the beginning of a military campaign to uproot the infidels," he said, as Muslims around the world observe the holy month of Ramadan, which continues through late October.

Ramadan, traditionally a time of peace, fasting, soul purification and charity, was called "a month of jihad and martyrdom" on the tape.

The speaker said Sunni Arab tribal leaders who have supported the U.S.-backed government will be granted "amnesty" if they switch over to the insurgency.

"Because Ramadan is the month of forgiveness, we offer the traitor tribal leaders amnesty, on one condition -- that you announce your repenting openly in front of all your people and get the word to us."

In addition, those who repent must cooperate with the mujahedeen to drive the "occupier" out of Iraq, he said.

Earlier this month, al-Muhajer urged each Iraqi Sunni to kill one of the 140,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq by the start of Ramadan.

Other developments

CNN's Arwa Damon and Octavia Nasr contributed to this report.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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