Prosecutors in the trial of Saddam Hussein questioned the former head of the
Revolutionary Court on Thursday over the death sentences of 148 Shiites in the
1980s, a central point in the case against the ousted Iraqi leader and members
of his regime.
Former Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein testifies during cross-examination at his trial in Baghdad
on Wednesday April 5, 2006. Hussein said he approved death sentences of
Shiites in the 1980s because evidence showed they were involved in an
assassination attempt against him. [AP] |
Awad al-Bandar, one of Saddam's seven co-defendants who testified last month,
was called back for further questioning about documents from the 1984 trial.
Wearing a red checkered traditional headdress, al-Bandar stood alone in the
defendants' pen before chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman and the prosecutors.
Saddam was not in the courtroom. A day earlier, the former president was
cross-examined by prosecutors for six hours for the first time in the six-month
trial.
Prosecutors are seeking to show that al-Bandar's Revolutionary Court gave the
148 Shiites only a cursory trial on charges they tried to assassinate Saddam in
1982, and that Saddam approved their death sentences even though many had
nothing to do with the shooting attack on him in the town of Dujail.
In his testimony Wednesday, Saddam insisted he was convinced that the 148
were guilty, but evaded questions about how closely he had looked at the
evidence.
Asked if he had read the evidence against the Shiites before referring them
for trial, Saddam replied, "If the constitution requires the head of state to
review documents before referral, then I abided by it." Pressed by prosecutors
on the point, he snapped, "I have answered."
He said he had the right to question the judgment after the defendants were
sentenced to death, but he "was convinced the evidence that was presented was
sufficient" to approve the sentences.
Saddam and the seven former members of his regime face possible execution by
hanging if found guilty over the crackdown launched against residents of Dujail
after Saddam's motorcade was shot at as it passed through the Shiite town in
1982. Hundreds — including women and children — were imprisoned, some of them
saying they were tortured, and 148 Shiites were killed.
The defendants have insisted their actions were a legal response to the
assassination attempt. But prosecutors have sought to show the sweep went far
beyond the actual attackers.
On Wednesday, chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi asked Saddam if he was
aware that 28 of the Shiites sentenced to death were under 18 and presented
identity cards showing some were minors. Prosecutors have said an 11-year-old
boy was among those killed.
"I sentence an underage Iraqi to death? I wouldn't do it even if you were to
carve my eyes out," Saddam said.
But he also questioned whether it was his responsibility to check the IDs of
the defendants to see how old they were, and argued that identity cards can
easily be forged. "You can buy IDs like this in the market," he said.
Wednesday's session was the first opportunity prosecutors have had to
directly question Saddam on the charges. The former leader cooperated with the
court at times, grinning at the chief prosecutor and reciting poetry to the
judge, whom he casually addressed by his first name as "Mr. Raouf."
But at times, he was sharp and combative, bickering with Abdel-Rahman and
denouncing the court as "illegitimate." He attempted to tap into Sunni
resentment of the Shiite-led Interior Ministry, which many Sunnis accuse of
backing death squads.
The Interior Ministry "kills thousands of people on the streets and tortures
them," Saddam said.
"Don't venture into political matters," Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman
admonished him.
This week, the tribunal indicted Saddam and six former members of his regime
on separate charges of genocide for a campaign against Kurds in the 1980s that
killed an estimated 100,000 people.
A separate trial will be held on those charges, possibly
beginning in 45 days, though some officials have questioned whether the tribunal
will be able to conduct two trials simultaneously. In any case, it means a
drawn-out legal process amid continued violence and political wrangling over the
formation of Iraq's next government.