Trial of Saddam Hussein - Misplaced Pages

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The trials of Saddam Hussein, the former President of Iraq, are being held under the Iraqi Special Tribunal where he will likely be tried for actions in human rights abuses in Iraq, the Iran-Iraq War and the invasion of Kuwait. He is likely to be charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, and could face the death penalty if convicted.

On June 30, 2004, Saddam Hussein (held in custody by U.S. forces at Camp Cropper in Baghdad), along with 11 senior Ba'athist officials, were handed over legally (though not physically, as there is at present no adequate Iraqi prison to hold them) to the interim Iraqi government to stand trial. Particular attention will be paid to his activities in violent campaigns against the Kurds in the north during the Iran-Iraq War, and against the Shiites in the south in 1991 and 1999 to put down revolts.

First hearing

File:TrialSaddam.jpg

Saddam Hussein during his first appearance before the Iraqi Special Tribunal

The first legal hearing in Saddam's case was held before the Iraqi Special Tribunal on July 1, 2004. Broadcast later on Arabic and Western television networks, it was his first appearance in footage aired around the world since his capture by U.S. forces the previous December.

The 67-year-old deposed Iraqi leader appeared confident and defiant throughout the 26-minute hearing. Alternating between listening to and gesturing at the judge, Saddam questioned the legitimacy of the tribunal set up to try him. He called the court as a "play aimed at Bush's chances of winning the U.S. presidential elections." He emphatically rejected charges against him. "This is all theatre. The real criminal is Bush," he stated. When asked by the judge to identify himself in his first appearance before an Iraqi judge, he answered, "I am Saddam Hussein al-Majid, the President of the Republic of Iraq." "I am still the president of the republic and the occupation cannot take that away," Saddam declared.

Also during the arraignment, Saddam defended Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait and referred to Kuwait's rulers as "dogs," which led to an admonishment from the judge for using coarse language in court (dogs are widely considered to be unclean animals in the Arab world). Later on July 1, Kuwait's information minister Abul-Hassan said crude language was "expected" of Saddam. "This is how he was raised," said the minister. Unlike the conservative monarchs in the area, which rule every other Arab nation in the Persian Gulf region, Saddam Hussein was born into a hard-scrabble, landless peasant family.

Although no attorneys for Saddam were present at the July 1 hearing, his first wife, Sajida Talfah, has hired a multinational legal team of over 20 attorneys, headed by Jordanian Mohammad Rashdan and including Ayesha Qaddafi (Libya), Curtis Doebbler (United States), Emmanuel Ludot (France), Marc Henzelin (Switzerland) and Giovanni di Stefano (United Kingdom). Toward the end of the hearing, the deposed president refused to sign the legal document confirming his understanding of the charges. It has been reported, that during a meeting with Donald Rumsfeld in 2005, Saddam refused an offer of release if he made a televised request to armed groups for a ceasefire with allied forces.

Pre-trial events

On June 17, 2005, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad announced the formation, under his joint chairmanship, of an international Emergency Committee for Iraq, with a main objective of ensuring fair trials for Saddam Hussein and the other former Ba'ath Party officials being tried with him.

On July 18, 2005, Saddam was charged by the Special Tribunal with the first of an expected series of charges, relating to the mass killings of the inhabitants of the village of Dujail in 1982 after a failed assassination attempt against him.

On August 8, 2005, the family announced that the legal team had been dissolved and that the only Iraq-based member, Khalil al-Duleimi, had been made sole legal counsel.

In an interview broadcast on Iraqi television on September 6, 2005, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani said that he had directly extracted confessions from Saddam that he had ordered mass killings and other "crimes" during his regime and that he deserves to die. Two days later, Saddam's lawyer denied that he confessed.

Saddam's defense repeatedly argued for a delay in the proceedings, insisting that it has not been given sufficient time to review all prosecution documents as provided for under tribunal rules, but so far these submissions have been rejected. Meanwhile international human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have suggested that the Iraqi Special Tribunal and its legal process may not meet international standards for a fair trial. The UN has also declined to support the proceeding, expressing similar concerns over fairness as well as over the possibility of a death sentence in the case.

Start of first trial

Iraqi authorities put Saddam Hussein and seven other former Iraqi officials on trial on 19 October 2005 four days after the 15 October 2005 referendum on the new constitution. The defendants were specifically charged with the killing of 143 Shiites in Dujail in 1982. Supporters of Saddam protested against the trial in Tikrit. It is thought this case was chosen to start with rather than a higher-profile incident because of the perceived clearness of the evidence.

At this hearing, when asked for his name, Saddam said "I am the president of Iraq", refusing to state his name, but returning the question, addressing Kurdish judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, "Who are you? I want to know who you are". When Amin addressed Saddam as "the former president", Saddam objected emphatically. After the charges were read to them, all eight defendants pleaded not guilty. The first session of his trial lasted for 3 hours. The court agreed to adjourn the case until 28 November 2005.

Notes

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