On November 16, Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, asked the Iraqi government to conduct an independent investigation into the murders of two defense lawyers in the trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The trial began in Baghdad on October 19 (IJT-33-34). The victims, Saadoun al-Janabi and Adel al-Zubeidi, represented Awad Hamed al- Bandar, former chief justice of the revolutionary court and Taha Yasin Ramadan, former Vice President of Iraq, respectively. Al-Janabi was found dead in Baghdad the day after the trial opened. Al-Zubeidi was killed in Baghdad on November 8. Alston says he is disturbed by the allegations blaming the Iraqi Minister of the Interior. For him, "when allegations [...] so much hinge [with] the facts, an independent investigation is the only way to uphold the rule of law." Following the second murder, the defense lawyers association based in Jordan asked that the trial be transferred out of Iraq, threatening to boycott the next hearing on November 28. On November 10, Government spokesperson Leith Kuba replied saying: "What has recently happened changes nothing to our stand." According to him, the lawyers declined the police protection that was offered them after the first assassination.