Saddam Hussein speaks to the Presiding Judge Rizgur Ameen Hana Al-Saedi as his trial begins in a heavily fortified courthouse in Baghdad's Green Zone yesterday. A defiant Saddam went on trial yesterday for crimes against humanity over the killing of more than 140 Shi'ites more than two decades ago. Nearly two years after he was found hiding in a hole in the ground near where he was born, Saddam and seven other members of his now-defunct Baath Party are being tried for events stemming from a failed attempt on the former leader's life in 1982. - REUTERS
BAGHDAD, (Reuters):
DEFIANTLY CHALLENGING the judge and jostling with his guards, Saddam Hussein pleaded not guilty yesterday at his trial for crimes against humanity allegedly committed two decades ago.
After a three-hour hearing during which Saddam and his seven co-defendants were charged with murder and torture in connection with the deaths of 148 Shi'ite Muslim men in the early 1980s, the chief judge adjourned the trial until November 28.
Afterwards, as he was being led out of court, Saddam angrily ordered two jailers in armoured vests not to hold his arms. He squabbled with them for a minute and shoved one of them hard in the shoulder, and then they let him walk out untouched.
ADJOURNMENT
The judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, who is Kurdish, told Reuters the main reason for the adjournment was that between 30 and 40 witnesses, some of them relatives of the men killed, had been too frightened to show up and testify.
Grey-bearded and wearing a dark jacket over an open-necked white shirt, a proud Saddam harangued Amin from his seat inside a shoulder-high white metal pen on the floor, as the other defendants sat quietly in two other pens behind him.
Asked by the judge for his full name, Saddam, 68, shot back and challenged the legitimacy of the U.S.-backed court:
"You know me. You are an Iraqi and you know who I am.
"I won't answer to this so-called court ... Who are you? What are you?" Saddam said as the judge smiled sardonically. "I retain my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq."
FIRST SESSION
Amin said: "You are Saddam Hussein al-Majid ... former president of Iraq", at which point Saddam raised his finger to interrupt, saying testily: "I did not say former president."
Saddam was the last to enter the marble-floored court before the trial began shortly after midday (0900 GMT). He asked the jailers escorting him to slow down as he walked to his spot facing a panel of five judges. He carried a copy of the Koran.
"This is the first session of case number one, the case of Dujail," Amin told the court, referring to the town where bloody reprisals followed an attempt on Saddam's life on July 8, 1982.
The judge told the defendants the charges included murder, torture and forced expulsions, saying the crimes could carry the death penalty, and informed them of their rights, including a fair trial. In turn, Saddam first, they pleaded not guilty.
Then followed brief arguments by the defence and the prosecution before the judge agreed to an adjournment, although he did not give the three months requested by Saddam's lawyer.
Iraq's government, struggling for popularity ahead of elections in mid-December, had pressed for an early trial.
International observers, in-cluding several human rights groups, were in the court inside Baghdad's fortress-like Green Zone to monitor a trial some warned beforehand might end up creating the impression of "victor's justice".
The event, broadcast around the world with a 30-minute delay, was tightly choreographed and Iraqi lawyers said it bore little similarity to usual Iraqi criminal proceedings. The court and its chief judge appeared intent on showing fairness.
SCALES OF JUSTICE
Amin presided from a dais above the defendants. Of the judges, only his face was shown on TV, and he conducted all questioning. Bronze scales of justice hung behind him.
The trial has started nearly two years after Saddam was captured hiding in a hole in the ground near where he was born. The charges stem from the 1982 attack when gunmen linked to the Shi'ite Dawa Party tried to kill Saddam as his armoured convoy drove through Dujail, 60 km (35 miles) north of Baghdad.
