AMMAN, Jordan - Saddam Hussein's defense team will boycott his genocide trial “indefinitely,” citing violations by the Iraqi court trying him, his chief lawyer said Sunday.

“The court committed several violations of the law and we will not just sit there gagged to give it legitimacy,” said Khalil al-Dulaimi, who heads the nine-member defense team for the deposed Iraqi leader.

He said the lawyers would “indefinitely” boycott the trial, in which Saddam faces charges of committing genocide against Kurds in northern Iraq.

The trial - Saddam's second - resumes Monday in Baghdad.

One of the key violations is the Iraqi High Tribunal's refusal to hear non-Iraqi lawyers in the case, and the requirement that non-Iraqi attorneys apply for permission just to enter the courtroom, al-Dulaimi said.

He said another reason was the abrupt replacement of the chief judge in the trial.

In a sudden move Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki approved a request by the Iraqi High Tribunal, the country's supreme court, to remove the top judge. Abdullah al-Amiri was removed after angering Kurds by declaring 10 days ago that Saddam was “not a dictator.”

He was replaced by Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, who presided over a turbulent session Wednesday in which he threw the former Iraqi president out of court, and his lawyers stormed out in protest.

The ousted president and seven others are on trial for the Operation Anfal crackdown on Kurdish rebels in the late 1980s. The prosecution says about 180,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

AP-ES-09-24-06 1052EDT