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Saddam trial judge Amin plans to quit
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-14 11:19
SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - The chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein
plans to step down, a source close to the judge told Reuters on Friday, in a
development that could throw an already turbulent process into further disarray.
Presiding Judge
Rizgar Mohammed Amin listens to testimony as the trial of Saddam Hussein
resumes in Baghdad in this December 21, 2005 file photo.
[Reuters] | "He wants to withdraw," the source said of Rizgar Amin, who is to preside
over the next hearing on January 24. "He will oversee the next sitting and then
announce his reasons for withdrawing."
Asked why the Kurdish judge, based in the northern city of Sulaimaniya,
wanted to pull out of a trial that has made his face familiar around the world
during long days of television coverage, he would say only: "It is too
difficult."
The killing of two defense lawyers has already highlighted problems with the
process in a country mired in a virtual civil war that pits Saddam's fellow
minority Sunni Arabs against a U.S.-backed government run by Shi'ite Muslims and
ethnic Kurds intent on hanging a man they say massacred their peoples.
Kidnapping and murder have become commonplace and human rights groups have
questioned the wisdom of pushing ahead with a trial in Baghdad rather than an
international process in The Hague or elsewhere.
Court officials were not immediately available for comment.
There is already a precedent in the trial, which opened on October 19, for
replacing one of the panel of five judges, so in principle Amin's departure may
cause little upset; a judge quit to avoid a potential conflict of interest over
one of the eight defendants' alleged role in the death of a relative.
But in practice, the resignation of the most visible face of the court
outside of the dock may be an embarrassment for the Iraqi government and U.S.
officials keen to show the world that Iraqis are capable of giving their former
leader a fair trial.
Amin, 48, told Reuters in November that his family worried about him and he
had taken on two bodyguards after pressure from friends. But he stressed: "A
judge should never be afraid because he defends justice and the law."
Only one other of the five judges on the panel has allowed himself to be seen
on camera and many of the witnesses called so far to testify to crimes against
humanity committed against over 140 Shi'ite men from the town of Dujail have
spoken behind a screen with their voices distorted to avoid retribution.
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