| Saddam, 11 aides arraigned
By Sun News
Thursday, July 1, 2004
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•Sadam
Photo:Sun News Publishing |
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Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been arraigned
before an Iraqi judge, a day after Washington handed him and
11 of his former aides to the country’s interim government.
His defence lawyer, however, says he would not get a fair
trial as his captors had already decided his fate. His defence
team include lawyers from France and the United States.
Saddam’s appearance Wednesday before Justice Salem Chalabi
is the first step by the new sovereign government toward bringing
him to justice and a possible death penalty for 35 years of
killing and torture.
"Today at 10:15 a.m. the Republic of Iraq assumed legal
custody of Saddam Hussein," said a terse statement from
interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's office. The deposed dictator
and 11 of his lieutenants were turned over to face Iraqi justice
nearly 15 months after U.S.-led forces overthrew him. They
will stay under U.S. military guard. "Saddam said 'Good
morning' and asked if he could ask some questions," said
Chalabi, the U.S.-trained lawyer leading the work of a tribunal
set up to try the former president.
"He was told he should wait until tomorrow," Chalabi
said after attending the formalities in which Saddam and 11
of his former lieutenants were turned over to Iraqi justice.
"Tomorrow's proceedings will mark the start of his trial,"
said an official in Allawi's office.
Saddam's former aides appeared nervous or hostile and one
of them, Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali for his
role in using chemical weapons, was shaking.
French lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot, one of a 20-strong team appointed
by Saddam's wife to represent him, said the former president
would refuse to acknowledge any court or any judge. "It
will be a court of vengeance, a settling of scores,"
Ludot told France Info radio, saying any judge sitting in
the court would be under pressure to find Saddam guilty.
Another member of the defence team, Mohammed Rashdan said
"this is a mockery of justice. We are facing clear legal
violations… the allegations that this is going to be
a fair trial is baseless," adding "any trial of
the President is illegal and unjust and it follows from the
aggression that took place against Iraq. The trial is a farce
and the guilty verdict had been issued even before the trial
has begun."
Rashdan said he and his legal associates in the United States
filed suits against the US authorities for not allowing them
access to Saddam. According to him, the defence team was not
given any of the tonnes of documentation prepared by the special
tribunal that will try Saddam. He alleged that his team had
been threatened by Iraqi officials and feared for their lives
if they came to Baghdad to defend the former Iraqi leader
without international protection.
Among others to be handed over were former Deputy Prime Minister,
Tareq Aziz and three of Saddam's half-brothers. He will now
be subject to Iraqi criminal law, rather than a POW protected
by the Geneva Conventions. His trial is likely to be several
months away. Iraq's national security adviser said it would
be broadcast live on television.
Iraq's president was quoted as saying the death penalty, suspended
during the U.S.-led occupation, would be reinstated and the
national security adviser said it could apply to Saddam.
Saddam, accused by Iraqis of ordering the killing and torture
of thousands of people during 35 years of Baathist rule, had
been held as a prisoner of war since U.S. forces found him
hiding in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit on Dec. 13.
Those former officials and others among the 55 most wanted
Iraqis on a U.S. list are seen as witnesses who could help
prove a chain of command linking Saddam to crimes against
humanity. Government offices were shut Wednesday for a new
national holiday declared to mark Monday's transfer of sovereignty
to the interim government from U.S.-British occupation authorities.
Allawi's government wants to show Iraqis that the occupation
is really over, despite the continued presence of 160,000
U.S.-led foreign troops, and to prove it can curb violence.
Insurgents fired six to 10 mortar rounds that landed north
of Baghdad International Airport Wednesday, wounding six soldiers
of the U.S.-led force, a U.S. military spokesman said.
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