December 13, 2004 -

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was detained illegally by coalition forces and should be freed immediately, his legal team insisted on the eve of the first anniversary of his arrest.

The Jordan-based team called for Saddam’s "immediate release" saying in a joint statement that his "detention was illegal right from the very beginning".

"It was more of a forced abduction that later became compulsory concealment and solitary confinement, acts rejected by all international conventions," said the team, citing some conventions and human rights charters it said the United States has allegedly violated.

"Compulsory concealment and solitary confinement are brutal acts that were first invented by Hitler in a decree called 'Night and Fog’ issued on 7/2/1941, and by which Hitler used to secretly transfer leaders of the occupied countries to Germany, where they would later vanish entirely," the statement added.

Saddam has been held at an unspecified US-controlled jail since he was captured a year ago. US authorities in Iraq have refused to let lawyers or family members see the Iraqi dictator, who was ousted in the US-led war last year.

No lawyer was at Saddam’s side when he was arraigned on July 1 in Baghdad on charges that included killing rival politicians over 30 years, gassing Kurds, invading Kuwait in 1990 and suppressing Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991.

The statement, signed by nine of Saddam’s leading lawyers, said that allowing the ousted dictator to meet with his family and lawyers was an "international obligation, not an American whim".

"Denying him this right is a serious breach of international protocols," added the lawyers, who were appointed by Saddam’s wife, Sajida.

Saddam’s team consists of 20 lawyers and another 1,500 volunteers. The lead lawyers come from various countries including the US, France, Jordan and Libya. Most of the volunteer lawyers are from Arab countries.