The family of toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Tuesday sacked the Jordanian head of his defense team amid bickering over the handling of his case, as they await his trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

"We the undersigned have decided to discharge you since we cannot continue to work together," said a statement signed by Saddam's wife Sajida Tilfa and three daughters, addressed to Jordanian lawyer Muhammad Rashdan.

Other members of Saddam's Amman-based defense team accused him of acting alone and seeking to be the sole lawyer for the former Iraqi dictator.

A statement signed by team spokesman Ziad Khassawneh and two other lawyers charged that Rashdan had "begun during recent months to act unilaterally and in his personal capacity without coordinating" with them.

Rashdan in turn accused Khassawneh and Jordanian lawyer Hatem Shahin of misappropriating $270,000 that had been earmarked for Saddam's defense.

"These were donations which they never submitted to the defense team," Rashdan said.

He also dismissed the legality of the power of attorney signed by Saddam's wife and daughters giving the defense team the right to represent him.

"We told the family a long time ago that the power of attorney is not valid... because it does not carry the signature of Saddam himself," he said.

But Khassawneh denied that the defense team received "any donations from any individual or any party," except for sums paid by Saddam's eldest daughter, Raghad, for the case.

He also said that Dulaimi had a power of attorney signed by Saddam giving him and the Amman-based defense team the right to name any lawyer to represent him.

"Dulaimi is cooperating with us, not with Rashdan," Khassawneh said.

Saddam was brought before an Iraqi court on July 1, just three days after the official end of the US-led occupation, for an initial hearing on seven charges of crimes against humanity.

Among the charges were the 1988 gassing of the Kurds in Halabja, the suppression of the 1991 Shia Muslim uprising in southern Iraq, and the previous year's invasion of Kuwait.

The defense team set up by his wife and daughters is made up of more than 20 members, including a French and an American lawyer, as well as the backing of hundreds of volunteers, Khassawneh said in July.

© 2004 Agence France-Presse