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BAGHDAD, Iraq - A key prosecution witness in
Saddam Hussein's trial will testify at an unexpected
session Sunday because the former intelligence
official is seriously ill with cancer, officials
said Thursday.
The witness, Wadah Ismael Al-Sheik, was a senior
Iraqi intelligence officer at the time of the Dujail
massacre in 1982 that Saddam and seven other
co-defendants are charged with, two lawyers said.
They spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid
compromising the case or the heavy security
surrounding it.
Saddam made a defiant initial court appearance
Wednesday on the murder and torture charges, along
with the seven former government and Baath Party
officials, and chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi,
outlined the case against the men. The three-hour
session then adjourned until Nov. 28.
But in a surprise, lawyers said Al-Sheik will
testify Sunday at a U.S. detention center where he
is being held near Baghdad's international airport
because of his cancer. If he recovers, he could be a
defendant in a later case regarding another alleged
massacre carried out during Saddam's rule, the
lawyers said.
The session would not involve reconvening the full
trial, but rather would be a hearing to take a
deposition from al-Sheik, the lawyers said.
The prosecution of Saddam could be a lengthy
process. The Dujail case is the first of up to a
dozen that prosecutors plan to bring to trial
against Saddam and his inner circle for atrocities
during their 23-year rule.
At Wednesday's session, Saddam was combative from
the very start.
When the chief judge asked him to identify himself
for the record, Saddam quickly turned the question
back on the little-known jurist: Who are you? More
importantly, who are you to pass judgment on the man
who still considers himself the ruler of Iraq?
Sitting inside a white pen with metal bars, Saddam
appeared gaunt and frail and his salt-and-pepper
beard was unkempt as he pleaded innocent to charges
of murder, torture, forced expulsions and illegal
detentions.
If convicted, the 68-year-old former dictator and
the others could face the death penalty for their
role in the 1982 killing of nearly 150 people from
the mainly Shiite town of Dujail north of Baghdad
after a failed attempt on Saddam's life.
Iraqis and much of the Arab world watched
glitch-filled TV coverage of the proceedings
intently.
"Since the fall of the regime, we have been waiting
for this trial," said Aqeel al-Ubaidi, a resident of
Dujail. "The trial won't bring back those who died,
but at least it will help put out the fire and anger
inside us."
In Baghdad, Shiite construction worker Salman Zaboun
Shanan sat with his family at home in the Shiite
neighborhood of Kazimiyah, having taken the day off
from work to watch the trial.
When Saddam appeared on television, his wife spat in
disgust.
But across the Tigris River in the mainly Sunni Arab
district of Azamiyah, some were embittered by the
trial of Saddam, whose regime was dominated by Sunni
Arabs who have now lost their power. "Saddam is the
lesser of evils," said engineer Sahab Awad Maaruf,
comparing Saddam to the current Shiite-Kurdish led
government.
The White House said President Bush did not watch,
even as the administration hailed the trial as a key
step in Iraq's transition to a functioning
democracy.
During the hearing, al-Mousawi said Saddam was
closely involved in planning retaliation after an
assassination attempt against him as he drove
through Dujail in July 1982. Al-Mousawi said the
prosecution had videos of Saddam personally
interrogating four Dujail residents soon after his
motorcade was fired on.
Saddam countered that videotapes should not be
admissible as evidence, insisting they can be
altered and faked. The judge did not respond to his
argument.
AP
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