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Saddam trial to resume in Baghdad

Hussein has maintained a defiant attitude during proceedings
The trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and seven aides on murder and torture charges is due to resume in Baghdad after a six-week break.

Security has been tightened after two defence lawyers were murdered and others, including witnesses, received death threats.

Former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, an outspoken critic of the trial, will join the defence team.

The defendants are accused of ordering a massacre of Shias in Dujail in 1982.

The prosecution says that 143 people, mostly men, were killed in the largely Shia town, some 60km (35 miles) north of Baghdad, after a failed assassination attempt against the former leader.

It is the first of what could be many prosecutions for alleged human rights abuses carried out during Saddam Hussein's rule. The deposed president could face execution if found guilty.

During his last court appearance, he initially refused to recognise the authority of the judge, but then pleaded not guilty.

Some reports say his lawyers will ask for another adjournment to allow more time to prepare his defence.

Boycott threat

Most of the 40-day break has been dominated by security issues. Chief judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin told a German magazine he had considered moving the trial to Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.

However he decided that Baghdad was secure enough for "regular and fair proceedings", even if they are "admittedly difficult".

Mr Clark, 77, who flew from the Jordanian capital Amman to Baghdad on Sunday, said he wanted to protect Saddam Hussein's rights.

US left-wing activist Ramsey Clark
Clark was US attorney general during the 1960s
"A fair trial in this case is absolutely imperative for historical truth," he told Reuters news agency.

The left-wing activist, who held office in the 1960s under President Lyndon Johnson, has previously described the special tribunal as a creation of the US military occupation.

On the eve of the trial re-opening, Iraqi police announced that eight people had been detained over a plot to kill the judge who prepared the case against Saddam Hussein.

The men, arrested four days ago in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, were allegedly acting on the orders of Saddam Hussein's former deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri.

The ousted leader's lawyers had also threatened to boycott Monday's proceedings, following the assassination of two of their colleagues.

But they later withdrew their threat after undisclosed promises were made regarding their security arrangements.

The trial is taking place in a specially constructed courtroom in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone.

In the interests of security, the identities of four of the five trial judges have been kept secret, and some of the 35 witnesses may testify behind curtains to protect them from reprisals.
BBC

Saddam Hussein argued with the judge and complained about Iraq's "occupiers" as his trial for crimes against humanity resumed in a Baghdad court.

The former Iraqi President and seven aides are facing charges of murder and torture.

Saddam, who was carrying a copy of the Koran under his arm, arrived slightly late for the court session, the second in the trial which opened on October 19 before it was adjourned for 40 days.

"They brought me here to the door and I was handcuffed. They cannot bring the defendant in, in handcuffs," Saddam said, when asked by chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin to explain his lateness.

He said he had to walk up four flights of stairs because of a broken elevator in the heavily fortified courthouse.

Saddam, wearing a white shirt and dark jacket, then argued with the judge about his rights and the fact his jailers had taken a pen and piece of paper away from him.

Following the assassination of two defence lawyers shortly after the first court session in October, security for the trial has been exceptionally tight.

The TV footage is not showing the faces of any of the defence lawyers and only one of the five judges.

Saddam and his co-defendants are charged with crimes against humanity in relation to the deaths of 148 Shi'ite men from the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad, after an attempt to kill him in July 1982.

All defendants have pleaded not guilty. They could face death by hanging if convicted. ITV

Last Updated 29/11/2005, 02:23:54

The trial of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants has been adjourned until next week in order to give one defendant time to get legal representation.

All eight defendants are charged with murdering almost 150 Shi'ite villagers in the town of Dujail 23 years ago.

Former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan had rejected a lawyer appointed by the court after his was killed after the first session of the trial in October.

The judge in the case ordered the adjournment until December the fifth so the problem could be resolved.

The trial resumed today after a five-week break.

From RadioAustralia

Saddam invites court to 'visit my cage' after witnesses tell of torture
independent

Last Updated 08/12/2005, 03:16:27

The trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in Baghdad has been adjourned for two weeks.

Correspondents described the fifth day of public proceedings since the trial opened in October as chaotic, marked by the ousted president's refusal to attend the hearing.

During the day's proceedings, two witnesses testified of torture in prison in the 1980s and were then cross-examined.

A lenghty adjournment had been expected to allow Iraq to concentrate on next week's general elections.

From RadioAustralia

Guardian
Thursday December 8, 2005 8:01 PM

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Three men threatened Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer as he boarded a plane Thursday from Baghdad to Jordan and were removed from the flight, the attorney said. Khalil Dulaimi did not say how the men threatened him. He did not identify the men but said he knows them and believed that one of them was an Iraqi security official plotting to kill him.

``I know them well, but I will not give their names,'' Dulaimi told reporters after arriving at Amman's international airport. ``Airport authorities refused to allow them to embark on the same plane.''

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a member of Saddam's defense team in the trial on mass murder charges, said the three who directly threatened Dulaimi ``were planning to board the plane. ... The security people removed them.''

Clark said other lawyers also received threats in the Baghdad courtroom this week during the three sessions of the trial for Saddam and his seven co-defendants.

``There were threats even at the court, on the balcony, there were three people making threats during the trial. I didn't personally receive any threat, or see anyone follow me,'' he said.

During this week's proceedings, the judge ordered the removal of one man from the visitors' balcony for making threatening gestures toward the defense.

Two lawyers for the defendants in the trial have been killed by gunmen.

On Oct. 20, the day after the trial began, attorney Saadoun al-Janabi was kidnapped by masked gunmen. His body was found the next day with bullet holes in the head.

On Nov. 8, defense lawyer Adel al-Zubeidi was killed in an ambush and a colleague, Thamir al-Khuzaie, was wounded. Al-Khuzaie fled the country and asked for asylum in Qatar.

The defense has asked the authorities for increased protection and threatened to boycott the trial unless this was provided.

Dulaimi alleged one of the men who threatened him Thursday was affiliated to Iraqi security services.

``I asked airport security to check his identity and they did. His name is with us. I believe he sought to assassinate me, or assassinate the defense team,'' he said.

``We appeal for intervention from the United Nations to ensure a fair and honest trial, considering this miserable security situation.''

Clark said he thought Saddam, who boycotted Wednesday's hearings, would be back in court when the trial resumes on Dec. 21.

The deposed leader and the other seven are charged with killing more than 140 people in the town of Dujail in 1982.

The trial of Saddam Hussein is as much about the appearance as the execution of justice; as important as bringing a former tyrant to account is saying, Look, this is how we do it in a democracy. As the trial has returned to session, the audience watching on TV sets across Iraq is getting a taste of American-style justice, all right. We just hadn't banked on how much it would look like Judge Judy.

Sitting in the defendants' box, the former dictator has not just been defiant, he's been explosive. He's called the trial a sham and his accusers pawns of the Americans; he's smirked during stories of atrocities, threatened to boycott the proceedings (a threat he made good on Wednesday, when he refused to appear in court and trial went on without him), and in the capper to the latest day of histrionics, told the judge Tuesday to go to hell. Any minute, you expect him to gesture with a flattened palm and tell the court officers to talk to the hand.

Saddam did not always seem like the cleverest manipulator of the media as president—he hired Baghdad Bob, after all—but he did have a sense of the importance of the cameras as when, during the first Gulf War, his government took pains to make collateral-damage sites available to video crews. Clearly he's aware of the TV audience now, and, perhaps, is trying to stab from hell's heart with the last weapon he has remaining.

It will be interesting to see whether it works. Certainly if the goal was to show Hussein meek, passive and humiliated, he's countered that. But while the trial has shown him as fiery and unbowed, it has also oddly diminished him. The courtroom is modest and mundane-looking, and with his unkempt appearance and oddly casual Western dress, he looks like a retiree, not the new incarnation of the Babylonian kings. And even as he takes shots at the trial process and the Americans, he can sound unhinged and even petty: after one witness described being tortured at Dujail, he complained about the size of the "iron cage" he's being held in.

The audience in Iraq will have to evaluate his performance, a judgment as important as any the court will make. But likely they'll take away at least one lesson about Western-style justice. We may not always give you an inspiring trial or your preferred verdict. But we sure know how to put on a show.

—J.P.

TIME

Court appearance
Saddam Hussein has been beaten and tortured by the Americans, he has alleged at his trial in Baghdad.

"I have been beaten on every place of my body, and the signs are all over my body," he told the court.

A spokesman for the US state department in Washington said he knew of no evidence to support the allegation.

Saddam Hussein is on trial over the killing of 148 people in the Iraqi Shia village of Dujail in 1982. He denies responsibility for the deaths.

Several times during his outburst, the sound feed to the television coverage being seen across Iraq was muted, the BBC's Quil Lawrence reports from Baghdad.

This has been seen as an attempt to keep Saddam Hussein from upstaging the testimony of the witnesses who claimed today that they were tortured at the hands of the former regime, he says.


For God's sake, if you are going to execute me, take me out and execute me!
Anonymous witness

'I wished for death'
The prosecution gave little credence to the former president's claim he had been tortured, saying he was being held in an air-conditioned room when some of Baghdad had no power.

Chief prosecutor Jaafar Mousawi said the claims would be investigated and that he would ask for Saddam Hussein to be transferred to Iraqi custody if there was any truth to them.


Witnesses speak out

Saddam Hussein had spent much of the day listening quietly as three witnesses testified against him and seven associates.

Two of them said Saddam Hussein's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti - a former intelligence chief who is also on trial - had been present when they were tortured.


Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants on trial in Baghdad


One described how his entire family of 43 was rounded up and imprisoned.

Ali Mohammed Hussan al-Haydari was one of few witnesses who has testified publicly during the on-again, off-again trial that began two months ago.

Two other witnesses testified behind screens.

The witnesses told of intelligence agents shocking people with electricity and pouring melted plastic on people's flesh.

One said he had been tortured three times at intelligence headquarters, then sent to Abu Ghraib prison for over a year before being exiled to the desert for months.

After he was allowed to return home, he was seized afresh by intelligence agents and kept in solitary confinement until he pleaded with them to kill him.

"For God's sake, if you are going to execute me, take me out and execute me!"

Death penalty

Iraq's former leader had appeared to accept the court proceedings in the morning after boycotting an earlier sitting, calling the court "unjust".

But late in the afternoon, he delivered a lengthy, rambling statement in which he claimed he and his co-defendants had been abused by their American jailers.

The case is due to continue on Thursday, but is then expected to be adjourned until mid-January to allow for the results of Iraq's election and the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

The ousted president is expected to face further charges relating to his tenure as Iraqi leader.

Saddam Hussein could be hanged if found guilty. BBC

US dismisses Saddam torture claim



The US has vigorously rebuffed claims by Saddam Hussein that he has been beaten and tortured by the US.

The ousted Iraqi leader used his war crimes trial in Baghdad to accuse the US of mistreating him while in custody.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the allegations "preposterous", praising the way Saddam is being held.

"Saddam Hussein is being treated the exact opposite of the way his regime treated those he imprisoned and tortured," Mr McClellan said.

A state department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said the allegations were "highly ironic".


Until today, I never heard Saddam make these allegations
Christopher Reid
US Embassy, Baghdad
"Look, he's been given to grandstanding in this trial, but where the focus should be is on the testimony of those people who were victimised.

"That's what people should be listening to."

Iraq's ex-leader is on trial over the killing of 148 people in a Shia village in 1982. He denies responsibility.

Sound cut

Saddam Hussein sat quietly through most of Wednesday's testimony - graphic accounts of alleged torture by his own regime - before standing to accuse his US captors of ill-treatment.

"I have been beaten on every place of my body, and the signs are all over my body," he told the court.



'I wished for death'
The sound feed to the television coverage - being seen across Iraq - was cut several times during his outburst, the BBC's Quil Lawrence reports from Baghdad.

This has been seen as an attempt to keep Saddam Hussein from upstaging the testimony of the witnesses, he says.

The prosecution gave little credence to the former president's claim he had been tortured, saying he was being held in an air-conditioned room when some of Baghdad had no power.

Chief prosecutor Jaafar Mousawi said the claims would be investigated and that he would ask for Saddam Hussein to be transferred to Iraqi custody if there was any truth to them.

One US embassy official in Baghdad, Christopher Reid, agreed that all accusations of mistreatment should be investigated.

The allegations were probably made up to ambush the judge, he wrote during a chat session on the White House website.

"I know that the soldiers who guard them have it rougher than they [the defendants] do. Until today, I never heard Saddam make these allegations," he added.

Witnesses speak out

Earlier, two of three witnesses said Saddam Hussein's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti - a former intelligence chief who is also on trial - had been present when they were tortured.


Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants on trial in Baghdad



One described how his entire family of 43 was rounded up and imprisoned.

The witnesses told of intelligence agents shocking people with electricity and pouring melted plastic on people's flesh.

One said he had been tortured three times at intelligence headquarters, then sent to Abu Ghraib prison for over a year before being exiled to the desert for months.

After he was allowed to return home, he was seized afresh by intelligence agents and kept in solitary confinement until he pleaded with them to kill him.




We should never judge Saddam by his own values, we need to use the best system available
William Maclean, Salamanca, Spain

.

The ousted president is expected to face further charges relating to his tenure as Iraqi leader and could be hanged if found guilty. BBC

Dec 22, 2005 1:00 pm US/Central

AP) BAGHDAD The trial of Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants adjourned Thursday until Jan. 24, completing a day of testimony in which an investigating judge said officials never saw evidence verifying Saddam's claims he was beaten while in U.S. custody.

American officials denied Saddam's allegations as "completely unfounded." Saddam, in turn, denounced those denials as "lies" and said "the marks are still there."

Six witnesses, including five who were not identified, testified during the two-day session that started Wednesday. Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for the deaths of more than 140 Shiites after a 1982 attempt on Saddam's life in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.

In a theatrical exchange becoming increasingly common at the trial, an assistant prosecutor asked to resign and the defense team threatened to walk out. Saddam also mocked President Bush's claims that Iraq had chemical weapons.

When the court gave the former leader an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, Saddam instead used the time to expand on earlier assertions he had been abused in custody. He claimed that the wounds he suffered from the alleged beatings had been documented by at least two American teams.

Full story cbs11tv

'New direction' for Saddam trial


For drama there is not much to match the trial of Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants.

Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein has been on trial since October 2005
But this is not supposed to be about drama - it is supposed to be about establishing whether Saddam Hussein and senior members of his government are guilty of crimes against humanity.

There has been precious little of that so far.

Two judges have resigned for political reasons; one has gone because of a conflict of interest; two defence lawyers have been killed and one has fled the country.

The former Iraqi leader has used the trial as a platform to issue statements entirely unrelated to the charges against him.

If the past is any guide then the trial will be buried under a tangle of procedure.

End in sight?

But the future may well be different and there was a clue to it in the afternoon session on Sunday.

Once the shouting was over, half the defendants and all the defence team had walked out, chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman simply got on with it.

Two women gave their accounts of how they were imprisoned and tortured.

One defendant was given time to protest his innocence.

It is tempting to see the morning's astonishing events as part of the same old pattern - but they may in fact have been the end of it.

It is too early to say an end is in sight for this trial. But an end is now conceivable.

The trial continues on Wednesday. BBC

Saddam walks out in trial uproar

Saddam Hussein has been on trial since last October
Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein walked out of court amid uproar within minutes of the resumption of his murder trial under a new presiding judge.

He left in protest after his defence team walked out, and was followed by two more of his co-defendants.

The walkouts came after the new chief judge, Raouf Abdul Rahman, had Saddam's half brother and co-defendant Barzan al-Tikriti removed from the courtroom.

Saddam and seven others are on trial for the 1982 killing of 148 villagers.

They could face the death penalty if convicted of the killings, which followed an assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein in the village of Dujail.

The trial continued for some time with half of the defendants missing until the judge adjourned it until on Wednesday.

New court rules

The court proceedings started with the new chief judge saying that he would not tolerate any defendants making political speeches or disobeying his authority.

His predecessor, Judge Rizgar Amin, had resigned earlier this month after criticism that he had been too lenient towards the defendants.


Judge Rahman said from the start that he would not tolerate outbursts

Mr al-Tikriti, a former Iraqi intelligence chief who is suffering from cancer, launched into a lengthy complaint about his medical condition and treatment.

Judge Rahman ordered the forcible removal of Mr al-Tikriti, who shouted that the court was "the daughter of a *****" as he was dragged away.

The judge then rounded on the defence lawyers, saying that they had contributed to the atmosphere that allowed defendants to think they could make lengthy speeches and disrespect the authority of the court.

Next, a defence lawyer was ejected from the court, and as a result the rest of Saddam's defence team stormed out, despite the judge warning "any lawyer who walks out will not be allowed back into this courtroom".

Heated exchange

The former Iraqi leader then launched into a vigorous exchange with the judge, telling him that he wanted to leave and be tried in absentia.


I am the judge, you are the defendant. You have to obey me
Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman

"I want to leave the court," Saddam demanded of the judge, who in turn ordered the former leader out.

"I led you for 35 years and you order me out of the court?" Saddam responded angrily.

"I am the judge, you are the defendant. You have to obey me," the judge hit back.

He accused Judge Rahman of abusing his rights as a defendant who was "innocent until proven guilty".

As the argument became more heated Saddam banged his hands on the dock and hurled insults at the judge.

Eventually, the judge said that Saddam should also be removed and he was led from the court too, shouting "Down with the traitors!" as he went.

'Justice undermined'

Judge Rahman then appointed four new defence lawyers, but two more of the defendants, Taha Yassin Ramadan and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, said they did not approve of their appointment and they also left the court.


The trial then resumed with an anonymous female witness giving evidence about events in Dujail from behind a curtain until it was adjourned until Wednesday.

Saad Djebbar, an international lawyer and commentator on Middle East politics told the BBC that the chaotic scenes meant that the whole trial was being undermined:

"I think it was a big mistake that this trial was held in Iraq because the judge, you cannot find a person, one individual today in Iraq - judge, lawyer, prosecutor who is impartial vis a vis Saddam Hussein. Either they are with him or against him."

BBC

Saddam To Boycott Trial


Saddam Hussein plans to boycott a trial into a massacre he allegedly ordered, his chief lawyer has said.

The announcement followed claims that a new judge appointed to hear the case in Baghdad was biased, lawyer Khalil al Dulaimi told reporters.

Mr al Dulaimi said: "There is an unanimous decision by the defence team to not attend Wednesday's hearing because of the comedy we witnessed in yesterday's trial.

"If he (Saddam) was forced to attend, he won't sit in the place designated for him, but will stand in a corner to protest against the measures taken by the judge."

Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman had ordered one of the former Iraqi dictator's co-defendants and a lawyer to leave the courtroom during a chaotic hearing.

The entire defence team then left in protest and Saddam was escorted out after a shouting match in which he yelled: "Down with America."

The judge then replaced the defence lawyers with court-appointed attorneys.

It was his first session in charge of the trial.

The judge had taken the top job after another was criticised for failing to stop Saddam's frequent outbursts.

Mr al Dulaimi said the hearing was lacking "the basics of a fair and honest trial" and insisted the judge was biased.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants could face death by hanging if convicted in the killing of at least 140 Shi'ites during a massacre in 1982.
Sky

I wish they'd hurry up and make him suffer a long, painful death.
It made me laugh the other day when he stood up and said 'I was your president for 40 years'. Most important word there SADdam me old mucker, WAS.

POSTED: 1:15 pm EST February 1, 2006
UPDATED: 1:15 pm EST February 1, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein and four other defendants refused to attend at a new session of their trial Wednesday and their lawyers boycotted the proceedings, demanding the removal of the chief judge, who they claim is biased against the former Iraqi leader.

Chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman pressed ahead with court-appointed defense lawyers and only three defendants present. Five prosecution witnesses were heard before the 4 1/2 hour session was adjourned until Thursday.

One witness, a woman, testified that she was arrested by Saddam's security forces and tortured in prison. She said she was stripped naked, hung by her feet and kicked repeatedly in the chest by Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's intelligence chief at the time and the top co-defendant in the trial.

"What crime have we all committed to go through this agony?" she said, speaking from behind a beige curtain to preserve her anonymity.

Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, kept things brisk, telling witnesses and lawyers to get to the point. His no-nonsense style underlined his determination to move on with the landmark trial despite the turmoil surrounding the court.

But if proceedings continue without most of the defendants _ including Saddam _ or any of their chosen lawyers, it could damage the fairness of a trial meant to be a landmark in the political progress of sharply divided Iraq.

The judge ordered the proceedings closed for the first half-hour, barring press and television from the courtroom. It was not clear whether Saddam was brought for the hearing, and court officials did not say what took place.

When the session was later opened to the public, Saddam and four other co-defendants were not present.

Full story WRAL