Saddam genocide trial resumes
Trial of ousted Iraqi leader resumes amid Kurdish and Shiite accusations that chief judge is biased.
Worldnews.com
By Jay Deshmukh - BAGHDAD
The trial of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on charges of genocide resumed Monday amid accusations by Kurdish and Shiite groups that the presiding judge is biased towards the ex-president.
Normally punctual judge Abdullah al-Ameri opened the session 90 minutes late without commenting on the reason for the delay.
Saddam and six of his former aides were in the dock after a three-day break to face charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The seven are accused of spearheading the 1987-1988 "Anfal" campaign in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, which prosecutors say killed 182,000 Kurds after their villages were bombed, burned and razed to the ground.
If found guilty they face execution by hanging.
The trial in the past few sessions has turned controversial after friendly exchanges between the Shiite chief judge and Saddam, with the prosecutor and some Kurdish and Shiite groups demanding his resignation.
In the previous session on Thursday, in a cordial exchange, Ameri said to Saddam: "You were not a dictator," and suggested it was the people close to him who made him look like one. Saddam thanked the judge.
Ameri's comment came after a Kurdish witness had told the court how he had managed to meet Saddam to ask the whereabouts of family members believed killed in the Anfal attacks.
Seated in the dock, Saddam asked: "Why did you try to meet me when you knew I was a dictator?"
It was at this moment that the judge stepped in and made the remark which now has triggered demands for his resignation.
Shiites are awaiting the verdict in Saddam's first trial on charges of killing 148 villagers in the Dujail village in the 1980s.
The verdict for that trial is expected on October 16.
"We demand the dismissal of the judge at the high tribunal and the nomination of another competent and neutral judge whose ideas are not polluted by the fascist Baath" party, said a statement from the Kurdish Halabja centre in Sulaimaniyah province.
Halabja was one of the Kurdish towns worst hit by chemical weapons attacks, though these attacks are not part of the Anfal trial.
"The attitude of Abdullah al-Ameri towards the accused does not conform to international legal practice in courtrooms worldwide or in such a tribunal," the statement said.
"His friendly attitude towards the accused has angered the families of victims and impartial observers," it added, before saying the judge's statement that Saddam was not a dictator "was the straw that broke the camel's back".
In Friday prayer sermons, Shiite clerics took the judge to task for not being firm enough with the former president.
Ameri, who has 25 years experience and was also a judge under the former regime, was also accused of being lenient towards the defendants by the prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon at the start of the session last Wednesday.
Faroon charged that Ameri was allowing Saddam to threaten witnesses and their lawyers.
On Tuesday, Saddam had threatened one of the witness lawyers as he defended the struggle of the Kurdish guerrilla against the old regime.
The ousted leader accused the lawyer of being an agent of "Iranians and Zionists" and threatened to "crush" his head.
When the trial opened on August 21, Saddam had also threatened prosecutor Faroon after he charged that the deposed ruler's forces had raped Iraqi women during the Anfal campaign.
"If he says an Iraqi woman was raped in my era and he does not prove it, I will hunt him down for the rest of my life," Saddam said.
Investigative judge Raed al-Juhi, meanwhile, has downplayed Ameri's comment.
"In the court, many statements are made," Juhi told reporters.
"Anything not legal would not affect the issue and the court will continue with its neutrality. The judge is human after all," he said.
Worldnews.com
By Jay Deshmukh - BAGHDAD
The trial of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on charges of genocide resumed Monday amid accusations by Kurdish and Shiite groups that the presiding judge is biased towards the ex-president.
Normally punctual judge Abdullah al-Ameri opened the session 90 minutes late without commenting on the reason for the delay.
Saddam and six of his former aides were in the dock after a three-day break to face charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The seven are accused of spearheading the 1987-1988 "Anfal" campaign in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, which prosecutors say killed 182,000 Kurds after their villages were bombed, burned and razed to the ground.
If found guilty they face execution by hanging.
The trial in the past few sessions has turned controversial after friendly exchanges between the Shiite chief judge and Saddam, with the prosecutor and some Kurdish and Shiite groups demanding his resignation.
In the previous session on Thursday, in a cordial exchange, Ameri said to Saddam: "You were not a dictator," and suggested it was the people close to him who made him look like one. Saddam thanked the judge.
Ameri's comment came after a Kurdish witness had told the court how he had managed to meet Saddam to ask the whereabouts of family members believed killed in the Anfal attacks.
Seated in the dock, Saddam asked: "Why did you try to meet me when you knew I was a dictator?"
It was at this moment that the judge stepped in and made the remark which now has triggered demands for his resignation.
Shiites are awaiting the verdict in Saddam's first trial on charges of killing 148 villagers in the Dujail village in the 1980s.
The verdict for that trial is expected on October 16.
"We demand the dismissal of the judge at the high tribunal and the nomination of another competent and neutral judge whose ideas are not polluted by the fascist Baath" party, said a statement from the Kurdish Halabja centre in Sulaimaniyah province.
Halabja was one of the Kurdish towns worst hit by chemical weapons attacks, though these attacks are not part of the Anfal trial.
"The attitude of Abdullah al-Ameri towards the accused does not conform to international legal practice in courtrooms worldwide or in such a tribunal," the statement said.
"His friendly attitude towards the accused has angered the families of victims and impartial observers," it added, before saying the judge's statement that Saddam was not a dictator "was the straw that broke the camel's back".
In Friday prayer sermons, Shiite clerics took the judge to task for not being firm enough with the former president.
Ameri, who has 25 years experience and was also a judge under the former regime, was also accused of being lenient towards the defendants by the prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon at the start of the session last Wednesday.
Faroon charged that Ameri was allowing Saddam to threaten witnesses and their lawyers.
On Tuesday, Saddam had threatened one of the witness lawyers as he defended the struggle of the Kurdish guerrilla against the old regime.
The ousted leader accused the lawyer of being an agent of "Iranians and Zionists" and threatened to "crush" his head.
When the trial opened on August 21, Saddam had also threatened prosecutor Faroon after he charged that the deposed ruler's forces had raped Iraqi women during the Anfal campaign.
"If he says an Iraqi woman was raped in my era and he does not prove it, I will hunt him down for the rest of my life," Saddam said.
Investigative judge Raed al-Juhi, meanwhile, has downplayed Ameri's comment.
"In the court, many statements are made," Juhi told reporters.
"Anything not legal would not affect the issue and the court will continue with its neutrality. The judge is human after all," he said.
