Brandishing assault rifles and grenade launchers, masked Islamists threatened in a taped message on Thursday to behead any lawyers defending deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"Saif al-Allah (The Sword of God) group, belonging to the Islamic Jihad, warns all those who defend the criminal file of the cowardly criminal Saddam ... that we will sever your necks before you arrive," one gunman read from a piece of paper.
The gunman, from a previously unknown group, said in the tape given to Reuters that the warning was for "the Iraqi, Arab and foreign lawyers who have taken on the case of the criminal Saddam."
A defiant Saddam and 11 of his top lieutenants, ousted by U.S.-led forces in April last year, stood before an Iraqi tribunal last Thursday to face charges that could lead to an indictment for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
His Jordan-based defense team said on Wednesday a proposed visit to Baghdad to show support for the jailed former president was shelved after they received death threats.
'One threat after the other'
Saddam's trial is not expected to begin for months but amore than 21-strong team of mainly Arab lawyers with power of attorney granted by Saddam's wife Sajida Khairallah have voiced fears about their personal safety in Iraq.
"We are getting one threat after the other," team coordinator Mohammed Rashdan said on Wednesday.
The defense team say among the large contingent of lawyers ready to defend Saddam are 700 non Arabs, including 400 Americans and Europeans.
Many lawyers say the trial is a political vendetta by Saddam's political foes and only an international court would guarantee an impartial and fair hearing.
The seven gunmen, faces hidden by checkered head-dresses, said they would bring God's justice down on the heads of anyone who sought to defend the former president, accused of gassing Iraq's Kurds, crushing a Shiite uprising, and condemning countless Iraqis to death in his dreaded torture chambers.
"We will sentence you with cutting off your heads," one of the gunmen said, as they all drew out long glistening blades.
