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Lawyer: Saddam Hussein ends hunger strike
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(CNN) -- Citing health concerns, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has ended his hunger strike after 11 days, his attorney said Monday from Amman, Jordan. Khalil Dulaimi told CNN he met with his client for seven hours in Baghdad on Sunday and the defense team had convinced him it was time for him to start eating again. Dulaimi also said the defense team has submitted a request to postpone the trial because of the security situation in Baghdad and across Iraq, following last week's bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra. Sectarian violence rocked the country for days afterward. While in Baghdad, the defense team also held a series of meetings with the Iraqi High Tribunal, Dulaimi said, at the request of the tribunal itself. According to Dulaimi, the tribunal has promised to fulfill the demands of the defense team, without specifying what those demands were. In the past, the defense team has complained about security. Two defense lawyers have been killed since the start of the trial. Dulaimi said that if the defense team's demands are met, it will likely return to court Tuesday when the trial resumes. Hussein and his co-defendants have been defended by court-appointed lawyers after their defense team walked out of court to protest the Iraqi High Tribunal's handling of the case. Hussein and seven co-defendants face charges for killing more than 140 Shiite males during a crackdown after an attempt on the former Iraqi leader's life in Dujail in 1982. CNN's Terrence Burke contributed to this story.
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