[JURIST] Waddah al-Sheikh, who served as a senior officer in the investigations and evidence unit at Hakmiya, Iraq's main intelligence agency under the rule of Saddam Hussein, became the first witness to testify [JURIST report] in Hussein's trial [JURIST news archive] Sunday. Court officials feared that al-Sheikh, who is dying of cancer and is one of the main witnesses at the trial, would not survive until the trial resumes on November 28 [JURIST report]. Al-Sheikh gave testimony to three judges and his words were recorded and written down. Despite security reassurances, and in keeping with a boycott threat [JURIST report], defense lawyers refused to attend the proceeding following the killing of a lawyer for one of Hussein's co-defendants [JURIST report] by gunmen late last week. Reuters has more.