A statement issued by Saddam's international legal team, which has an office in Amman, Jordan, said the former president was attacked and exchanged blows with another person in a hearing attended by Saddam's main Iraqi lawyer Khalil Dulaimi, on Thursday.

"As the president (Saddam) stood to leave the courtroom one of those present attacked him and there was an exchange of blows between the man and the president," the statement said, adding that the head of the tribunal did nothing to stop the assault.

The statement quoted Dulaimi as saying the American guard who protected Saddam in the courtroom did not intervene and that he lodged a formal complaint against the tribunal.

The defence team did not say if Saddam was hurt.

However, a spokeswoman for detainee operations in Iraq, the U.S. military unit charged with overseeing the custody of prisoners including Saddam, said no such incident took place.

"Nothing like that happened with Saddam whatsoever," Lieutenant Kristy Miller said.

The U.S. military is in charge of Saddam's physical custody, although he is in Iraqi legal custody. Miller said that as far as she knew Saddam almost never leaves U.S. military sight.

Officials at the Iraqi Special Tribunal, the court set up to try the former president and other senior members of his now- defunct Baath Party, were not reachable for comment.

The defence team said it would boycott the tribunal or any committee interrogating Saddam until he was given the right to proper legal representation by a team of international lawyers, including allowing former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, leading Saddam's team of Western lawyers, to see him in prison.

"Repeated interrogations have taken place without a lawyer of choice present, no informed choice of legal counsel has been allowed, on evidence presented against Mr Saddam Hussein and his due process rights have been irreparably violated," Clark told Reuters in a statement.

AUTHORITY OF THE COURT

The team, retained by Saddam's family, said it held the U.S. military responsible for any harm to the former Iraqi leader and demanded safeguards for his protection.

The statement said until the tribunal members identified themselves in full public hearings, the legal team refused "to recognise the authority of the court and all the bodies that were interrogating Saddam as it had no legal authority".

"No defendant can be tried by ghosts," the defence team's statement said.

The tribunal on Friday released pictures of Saddam being questioned over the suppression of Shi'ite Muslims after a 1991 uprising, when his regime is accused of killing up to 150,000 people.

So far, Saddam has been formally charged in only one case -- the killing of Shi'ite Muslims in the village of Dujail following a failed assassination attempt in 1982. A date for that trial is expected to be set soon.

Saddam's defence team has complained that he has had no access to international lawyers and says Saddam is sometimes called to hearings at a moment's notice, in violation of rules.

The statement, quoting Dulaimi, said the court adjourned on Thursday after they accepted his complaint that he was not served enough prior notice of the hearing.

"When Dulaimi was summoned he was surprised by the presence of a committee of three lawyers and a prosecutor, he did not know any of them. In addition he saw anonymous judges and others, he did not know in what capacity they were present in the court room," the statement said.

The tribunal denies Saddam has had his rights infringed.