Chaos as Saddam walks out of court

BAGHDAD – The setback-plagued trial of Saddam Hussein descended into chaos under its new judge yesterday as the former Iraqi president left the court, his half-brother was ejected and the entire defence team walked out.

New Kurdish judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman, appointed from outside the chamber, attempted immediately to stamp his authority on the trial after the controversial resignation of his predecessor Rizkar Mohammed Amin. His strict demeanour contrasted with the more flexible manner of Amin and the hardline approach led to the expulsion of half the defendants and the departure of all defence lawyers within minutes of the trial opening.Saddam launched into one of the furious tirades against the court that have marked previous sessions, angrily pointing his finger at the judge and questioning the legitimacy of the tribunal.”I want to leave the court,” Saddam, red-faced with anger, told the judge, who replied that he could leave the court and then ordered the former dictator out.”I led you for 35 years and you order me out of the court,” retorted Saddam.”I am the judge, you are the defendant.You have to obey me,” said the judge.Saddam said “this is an American court, not an Iraqi court.”Prior to the verbal exchange between Saddam and the judge, the defence lawyers walked out.Attorneys appointed by the court then arrived.”Anyone appointed by you we reject them.This is my right, to give up my right to an attorney,” Saddam said.After further verbal exchanges, Saddam walked out, escorted by guards.Shortly after the trial opened, Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, half-brother of Saddam and one of the co-defendants in his trial, was physically ejected from the court by guards on order of the new judge.”Get him out,” said the balding judge after Barzan stood up to deliver a lengthy statement about his medical condition.Before being ejected, Barzan called the court a “daughter of a whore”.Two other defendants Taha Yassin Ramadan and Awad Ahmad al-Bander al-Sadun also left the court a few minutes later, leaving four minor former Baath party officials as the only defendants in court.After the four defendants exited from the court, an unidentified female witness gave testimony from behind a beige coloured curtain on the killing of 148 inhabitants of the Shiite village of Dujail in 1982.She said her husband, a non-commissioned officer during the Saddam regime, was tortured to death during the Dujail massacre, for which Saddam and his seven co-defendants could face the death penalty.She was jailed in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison where she saw young people beaten.”They kept us standing on one foot every day and they tortured us,” she said.”My relatives were all tortured in front of us.They (guards) said there should be no noise, but how do you make no noise with children with you?” she said.The court has been plagued by problems since its inception, with the first session of the new year last week adjourned early owing to what the court said was the absence of the necessary witnesses.The January resignation of Amin, the Kurdish chief judge and public face of the trial for its past seven sessions, also raised questions about the independence of the court and its ability to handle the case.Human Rights Watch has said Amin’s resignation came about after an “attack on judicial independence” of the court, which has already seen two defence lawyers murdered.Amin watched the trial on television at his home in Iraqi Kurdistan Amin’s successor was originally expected to be Said al-Hammashi, a Shi’ite and the next senior judge on the five-person panel.However, he was transferred off the court after the de-Baathification committee protested over his appointment due to his alleged membership in the former ruling party.The reshuffle of the judges also means that a significant proportion of the panel will not have been present for the previous 15 witnesses’ testimony.- Nampa-AFPHis strict demeanour contrasted with the more flexible manner of Amin and the hardline approach led to the expulsion of half the defendants and the departure of all defence lawyers within minutes of the trial opening.Saddam launched into one of the furious tirades against the court that have marked previous sessions, angrily pointing his finger at the judge and questioning the legitimacy of the tribunal.”I want to leave the court,” Saddam, red-faced with anger, told the judge, who replied that he could leave the court and then ordered the former dictator out.”I led you for 35 years and you order me out of the court,” retorted Saddam.”I am the judge, you are the defendant.You have to obey me,” said the judge.Saddam said “this is an American court, not an Iraqi court.”Prior to the verbal exchange between Saddam and the judge, the defence lawyers walked out.Attorneys appointed by the court then arrived.”Anyone appointed by you we reject them.This is my right, to give up my right to an attorney,” Saddam said.After further verbal exchanges, Saddam walked out, escorted by guards.Shortly after the trial opened, Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, half-brother of Saddam and one of the co-defendants in his trial, was physically ejected from the court by guards on order of the new judge.”Get him out,” said the balding judge after Barzan stood up to deliver a lengthy statement about his medical condition.Before being ejected, Barzan called the court a “daughter of a whore”.Two other defendants Taha Yassin Ramadan and Awad Ahmad al-Bander al-Sadun also left the court a few minutes later, leaving four minor former Baath party officials as the only defendants in court.After the four defendants exited from the court, an unidentified female witness gave testimony from behind a beige coloured curtain on the killing of 148 inhabitants of the Shiite village of Dujail in 1982.She said her husband, a non-commissioned officer during the Saddam regime, was tortured to death during the Dujail massacre, for which Saddam and his seven co-defendants could face the death penalty.She was jailed in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison where she saw young people beaten.”They kept us standing on one foot every day and they tortured us,” she said.”My relatives were all tortured in front of us.They (guards) said there should be no noise, but how do you make no noise with children with you?” she said.The court has been plagued by problems since its inception, with the first session of the new year last week adjourned early owing to what the court said was the absence of the necessary witnesses.The January resignation of Amin, the Kurdish chief judge and public face of the trial for its past seven sessions, also raised questions about the independence of the court and its ability to handle the case.Human Rights Watch has said Amin’s resignation came about after an “attack on judicial independence” of the court, which has already seen two defence lawyers murdered.Amin watched the trial on television at his home in Iraqi Kurdistan Amin’s successor was originally expected to be Said al-Hammashi, a Shi’ite and the next senior judge on the five-person panel.However, he was transferred off the court after the de-Baathification committee protested over his appointment due to his alleged membership in the former ruling party.The reshuffle of the judges also means that a significant proportion of the panel will not have been present for the previous 15 witnesses’ testimony.- Nampa-AFP