SULAIMANIYAH ,
Kurdistan-Iraq Nov 21 (Reuters) - Two lawyers
involved in Saddam Hussein's trial have been killed,
another has fled the country in fear and more than
30 witnesses were too scared to appear in court when
it opened.
But the chief judge in the high-profile case does
not seem so concerned with his security ahead of the
next court hearing.
In a country where Saddam's supporters still
assassinate opponents, Rizgar Mohammed Amin avoids
the heavily armed convoys that protect officials
from suicide bombings and shootings.
"I have a limited number of guards. I don't like to
show off," he told Reuters in an interview in his
hometown of Sulaimaniya, in the safer Kurdish
northeast of Iraq. |
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP
|
|
"I decided to have two bodyguards only after
pressure and advice from friends."
Amin will return to court in Baghdad on November 28
to continue to preside in a trial in which Saddam
and seven others are charged with crimes against
humanity for the deaths of more than 140 Shi'ites
after a failed attempt on Saddam's life in 1982.
He is again likely to hear defiance from Saddam, who
at the opening of the trial last month insisted the
court had no authority because it was created under
U.S. occupation.
In that first court appearance, Amin was the only
one of the five judge panel to appear on television,
and he quickly earned a reputation for patience and
forbearance with the way he calmly dealt with
Saddam's intransigence.
SUFFERING OF FELLOW KURDS
Despite the grave risks, the grey-haired, gently
spoken Amin is taking on a trial that leaders hope
will help Iraqis bury their violent past and chart a
new course after Saddam.
As a Kurd, a minority that was frequently targeted
by Saddam's security forces, Amin is familiar with
several of the crimes for which Saddam is ultimately
expected to be charged, including the gassing of
some 5,000 Kurds in Halabja in 1988.
"In my personal opinion, a judge should never be
afraid because he defends justice and the law," said
Amin, who unlike the other four judges in the case
agreed to expose his identity.
"How can it be possible to show the faces of the
defendants and not the panel of judges?"
Amin graduated from law school in Baghdad in 1980
and worked as an investigating magistrate for 10
years in his home city before reaching the senior
ranks of the judiciary in 1993, after the Kurds had
secured virtual independence from Baghdad.
He was named to the special tribunal trying Saddam
and his aides last year.
Because he is a Kurd, some Iraqis may suggest he
cannot be impartial in a land where sectarian
tensions have raised fears of civil war.
But for now, Amin is getting accustomed to the tough
job of ensuring that Saddam gets a fair trial while
assuring Iraqis the new Iraq can deliver justice.
"My personal freedoms have shrunk after the trial
because of the scale of the responsibility," said
the 48-year-old judge.
While he does not seem overly concerned with
security, his wife is acutely aware of the dangers.
"Of course my wife wants me to come home as soon as
possible and she is worried but at the same time she
supports me," he said.
Despite the killing of two defence lawyers and the
fact another has fled Iraq because of threats, Amin
dismisses calls for the trial to be moved abroad.
"I understand that the trial will remain in Iraq and
take place at the scheduled time," he said.
Reuters
Top |
® 