By Suleiman al-Khalidi AMMAN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein's defence team urged a delay on Friday of his possible death sentence and said the ousted Iraqi leader believed Sunday's expected verdict was timed to boost President George Bush before U.S. mid-term elections. Chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said a letter was sent on Thursday asking the Iraqi High Tribunal trying the former president to delay delivering its verdict against him and his seven co-defendants charged with crimes against humanity. Dulaimi repeated warnings that a death sentence against Saddam -- which would come before Tuesday's U.S. Congressional elections at a time when Bush faces mounting criticism over the Iraq war -- would plunge the region into wider bloodshed. "We have requested at least a two-month adjournment to allow us to complete our presentations in the case in which our defence rights have been violated and in which our clients have been denied full legal defence," Dulaimi told Reuters in Amman. Saddam and his co-accused are charged over the killing of 148 Shi'ite villagers after an attempt on his life in the town of Dujail in 1982. The defence team says it will appeal any death sentence. "The President believes the verdict is timed to boost Bush's plunging popularity. If the court decided on a political and negative verdict we will appeal the verdict," he added. Dulaimi said he would not be surprised by a death sentence as from the start of the trial both the Americans and the Iraqi authorities wanted to push ahead with the trial to "score political points." "I would not personally be surprised because it will be the outcome of a year of miscarriage of justice," he said. U.S. officials deny Washington has any say over the timing of the verdict or the court's decisions, saying the American role was limited to logistics and security. "There will be a catastrophe the region has never witnessed before. I am scared the people who pushed America in occupying Iraq will again drive the idiot Bush to a politically inspired verdict, but he will pay a heavy price for it," he warned. Dulaimi assailed the U.S.-backed Iraqi legal process and the fairness of the Dujail trial, saying the tribunal's legitimacy was in question. "This court is a creature of the U.S. military occupation and the Iraqi court is just a tool and rubber stamp of the invaders," he added. "The trial of the President should not proceed this way in a climate of mounting political pressure for a quick conviction that demolishes the trial's impartiality," Dulaimi said. Dulaimi said the credibility of the trial had been tarnished by delays, the murder of defence counsel, courtroom chaos and political interference and court bias against the defence. "During all these months the court has deliberately sought to limit our access and ability to defend the President ....this means that justice has not been done," he said.
