Khamis al-Obeidi

Khamis al-Obeidi (; July 7, 1966 – June 21, 2006) was a lawyer defending Saddam Hussein and Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, from the time the former leader's trial began in Baghdad on October 19, 2005, until his assassination. He was a Sunni Muslim, was married and had three children.

Murder Al-Obeidi was abducted from his house in the Adhamiya district of Baghdad at approximately 7 AM, reportedly by men in Iraqi police uniform,

The killing occurred shortly before the final phase of Saddam Hussein's trial, and Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's chief defense lawyer, believes that it was an attempt to intimidate Saddam's defense team, and blamed the Interior Ministry who have been alleged by Sunni Arabs to operate death squads who impersonate Iraqi police.

Some sources in Sadr City believe the murder of al-Obeidi to be the work of a warlord who goes by the name 'Abu Dereh'.

Al-Obeidi was the third member of Saddam Hussein's defense team to be killed since the trial started. He had previously spoken out against the two previous killings of defense lawyers, and the lack of security measures for him and his colleagues. Despite this, he had chosen to continue living in the Iraqi capital.

Saddam embarked upon a new hunger strike over al-Obeidi's killing on July 7, 2006, and required hospitalisation on July 23, 2006. The trial continued in his absence. He ended this second hunger strike after 18 days, and reappeared in court.