|
Saddam Hussein quiet as trial resumes
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-01 18:22
Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants calmly entered the courtroom Wednesday
for the latest session of their trial, a day after prosecutors presented their
most direct evidence yet pinning the former Iraqi leader to executions of
Shiites in the 1980s.
For the second straight day, the session had a quiet start, a sharp contrast
to the outbursts, insults and arguments that characterized past proceedings.
The trial, which began Oct. 19, appears to have entered a new phase, after
chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman imposed control on the stormy tribunal and
prosecutors began presenting the core of their case: documents they say prove
Saddam and his co-defendants led a campaign of arrests, torture and executions
in which 148 Shiites died following a 1982 attempt to assassinate Saddam in the
town of Dujail.
Prosecutors on Wednesday planned to bring several former regime officials to
the witness stand.
Saddam's defense team on Tuesday ended a boycott of the proceedings that had
aimed to remove Abdel-Rahman, who they claimed was biased against the former
Iraqi leader. Abdel-Rahman rejected the demand to step down Tuesday, though the
defense said it would appeal.
The turn in the case 錕斤拷 including the defense team's participation and the
order in the room 錕斤拷 boosted hopes the controversial trial will be seen as
credible in a country still sharply divided by Saddam's legacy.
But those splits have only gotten wider amid a surge of bloody sectarian
violence between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites. At least 68 people were killed
Tuesday in bombings and mortar barrages, mainly against religious targets, in
continued violence sparked by an attack last week on a major Shiite shrine.
In court on Tuesday, chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi presented on an
overhead screen a series of documents 錕斤拷 presidential orders, court rulings and
internal memos of the Mukhabarat intelligence agency, some handwritten, some
with the letterhead of the agency 錕斤拷 detailing executions following the Dujail
crackdown.
Chief among them was a June 16, 1984, presidential decree approving death
sentences against 148 Shiites from Dujail. The document had a signature that
al-Moussawi said was Saddam's.
A document issued two days earlier by the Revolutionary Court announced the
death sentences and listed the 148. Among those sentenced to hang was an
11-year-old boy and nine other juveniles 17 years old or younger, though it was
not clear Saddam was aware of their ages since the court document had only their
names.
The sentences were passed after an "imaginary trial," al-Moussawi told the
court.
"None of the defendants were brought to court. Their statements were never
recorded," he said.
Other documents showed that about 50 of those sentenced died during
interrogation before they could go to the gallows. One man, his brother and two
sons were executed by mistake, and Saddam allegedly ordered them declared
"martyrs" to cover up the error.
When it was discovered that the 11-year-old and nine other juveniles were not
executed but were still in prison years later, they were ordered killed and
their bodies buried in secret 錕斤拷 an order approved with a signature the
prosecution said was that of the intelligence agency chief at the time, Barzan
Ibrahim, who is Saddam's half brother and a co-defendant in the trial.
Saddam, Ibrahim and six other members of the former regime are on trial for
torture, imprisonment and the killings in the crackdown. They face death by
hanging if convicted.
|
