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Ex-regime figures to testify Vs. Saddam
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-12 09:34
Saddam Hussein's troubled trial moves to a crucial stage Monday with
testimony expected from former regime figures and the presentation of documents
allegedly pointing to the ousted ruler's knowledge of the torture and execution
of Shiite Muslims.
But the proceedings are likely to take place with neither the eight
defendants nor the lawyers they retained in the courtroom, which was likely to
fuel concerns about the legitimacy of the tribunal and its eventual verdict.
Former Iraqi
president Saddam Hussein gestures during his trial in Baghdad, in this
Sunday, Jan. 29, 2006 file photo. [AP] | Saddam
and his seven co-defendants are on trial in the killing of nearly 150 Shiite
Muslims after the former ruler survived a 1982 assassination attempt in Dujail
north of Baghdad. If convicted, they could face the death penalty by hanging.
Twenty-six prosecution witnesses have testified since the trial began Oct.
19, many providing heart-wrenching accounts of torture and imprisonment but none
directly linking Saddam to their ordeal.
Court officials said witnesses expected in the coming days would include
former regime officials, whose testimony would attempt to "connect the dots" to
establish a clear chain of command from the security officials who carried out
torture and executions to Saddam.
The officials would not identify the witnesses, so it was impossible to
determine whether their evidence will live up to its billing. The officials did
say, however, that the witnesses were not offered immunity in exchange for their
testimony.
Prosecutors also were expected to submit the first of hundreds of documents
that are expected to implicate Saddam in every step of the investigation,
torture and death of the Shiites. The documents include some in Saddam's own
handwriting, according to legal experts familiar with the case.
Much attention also will be focused on the conduct of the trial under a new
judge, who took over last month after his predecessor resigned amid criticism
over tumultuous proceedings marked by frequent, profane outbursts by Saddam and
his half brother and one-time intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim.
Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman clamped down on the courtroom theatrics. The
defense team walked out Jan. 29 after Abdel-Rahman threw one of their colleagues
out of the courtroom. Saddam and three co-defendants were allowed to leave or
forcibly removed, and the judge appointed replacements for the defense lawyers.
In the following session Feb. 1, only three defendants attended. None showed
up the next day and Saddam's lawyers have said they will continue to boycott the
trial as long as Abdel-Rahman is on the bench.
The defense claims that Abdel-Rahman is unfit to try the case because he was
sentenced to life in absentia in the 1970s for anti-state activity. Saddam
became president in 1979, but was Iraq's most powerful man for several years
before that.
Court officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't
authorized to comment on judicial conduct, said Abdel-Rahman must formally
address the issue of his fitness because the defense has filed a motion for his
removal, citing his opposition to Saddam's regime.
The implications for a long-term absence by the defendants and their lawyers
is unclear. There are precedents in international law for trials to continue
without the defendants in the courtroom, including cases before the U.N.
International Criminal Tribunal for atrocities in Rwanda.
But it will likely raise questions about the fairness of the proceedings,
which human rights groups criticized even before the trial began. Many observers
have expressed skepticism that a fair trial could be held in Iraq so soon after
the 2003 fall of the former regime in a country gripped by insurgency, some of
it led by Saddam's supporters.
"To minimize the risks involved, the court must make sure the lawyers it
appoints mount a vigorous defense," Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch said in
a report Friday.
The court-appointed lawyers did not accept Abdel-Rahman's offer to
cross-examine prosecution witnesses who testified Jan. 29 session, but used
pointed questions when they did so in the hearings in early February.
Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi was so visibly annoyed by their line of
questioning that he angrily demanded that they stop speaking on behalf of all
eight defendants and stick to their individual clients.
The Dujail case is one of about a dozen being prepared by the Iraqi High
Tribunal against Saddam and his top lieutenants. They include the "Anfal"
campaign in which tens of thousands of Kurds have been killed or driven away
from their homes, the suppression of twin 1991 uprisings by Shiites and Kurds
and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Preliminary investigations into the Anfal case are nearly complete. Under
Iraqi law, the investigative report will be forwarded to a judge, who would then
order a trial within 45 days if he believes a strong case
exists.
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