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Iraqi tribunal quizzes Saddam on 1982
killings
14.6.2005
By Alastair
Macdonald Tue June 14, 2005 1:35 AM GMT+05:30 |
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqis saw Saddam Hussein on
camera for the first time in a year on Monday,
apparently being questioned by a judge about
killings of Shi'ite villagers that the government
thinks could be a test case for a swift trial.
Officials of the Iraqi Special Tribunal said it was
made when prosecutors interviewed the ousted
president about his role in apparent revenge
executions of dozens of men after an attempt on his
life in the village of Dujail in 1982.
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Saddam Hussein
Photo : Reuters
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The Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government has said it
wants to try him for his life within months --
before an election due in December. U.S. and
international demands that a trial look fair and
fully prepared suggest that timetable is improbable.
Tribunal officials responded to government calls for
a quick trial last week by insisting they would not
be rushed. But for ministers struggling to bring
order, showing progress on trying Saddam -- however
superficial -- is a popular move.
Several of Saddam's lieutenants were shown talking
to the same judge in the run-up to an election in
January -- a move critics called a campaign stunt by
the then prime minister.
The killings of Shi'ite men from Dujail -- by some
accounts over 140 -- pale in comparison with some of
the accusations against Saddam, who looked relaxed,
if sombre, bearded and wearing a dark jacket, as on
his last appearance in July.
But a government source has told Reuters that
prosecutors believe they can build a strong test
case for Saddam's personal role at Dujail, possibly
based on testimony from a half-brother and the
former vice-president, accelerating the trial
process.
Proving guilt for genocide and crimes against
humanity in broader cases, such as the suppression
of Shi'ite and Kurdish uprisings, may take much
longer -- as four years of proceedings against
former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic have
shown.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's office declined
comment.
"ANSWER THE QUESTION"
The prosecution will allege the killings were
reprisals for a gun attack on Saddam's motorcade as
it passed through Dujail, 60 km north of Baghdad, in
July 1982. The village's date groves were destroyed
and hundreds of residents interned.
Saddam has yet to be formally charged on any count,
although a list of broad accusations has been made.
Any trial this year would look unduly hasty, many
legal experts argue.
His half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and
vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan are among five
men already charged over Dujail.
"Answer the question, answer the question,"
presiding judge Raad Jouhi could be seen telling
Saddam in the silent film. The tribunal said
Saddam's lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi was present.
The lead attorney engaged by Saddam's family in
Jordan declined comment as he said he had not known
of the hearing. In London, Giovanni di Stefano, who
says he is among the many lawyers working for
Saddam, questioned whether the film was new and
stressed that no charges had yet been brought.
The tribunal also released a list of four other
people, including Barzan Abdel Ghafoor, a general
and cousin of Saddam, and Muzahim Saab al-Hassan, a
former air defence commander, who were questioned on
the 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds, during
which poison gas killed 5,000 civilians at Halabja.
Film of their hearings was also released.
U.S. officials, whose forces guard Saddam and his
aides at a base near Baghdad, stress they want due
process. Saddam himself questions the tribunal's
authority and his complaints of "victor's justice"
strike a chord with fellow Sunni Arabs.
European allies, promising increasing aid to Iraq,
are keen to dissuade the government from carrying
out any executions.
But millions of Iraqis want quick and deadly
punishment:
"I don't care what he is tried for as long as they
try him and execute him soon before he dies of
natural causes," said Abdul-Rahman Yusif, a
33-year-old Baghdad teacher.
SUICIDE ATTACKS
Some officials argue that a rapid trial for Saddam,
68, could puncture support for the bloody insurgency
among Sunnis. But similar predictions after his
capture in December 2003 and his first court
appearance a year ago failed to come true.
There were at least four major attacks on Iraqi and
U.S. forces on Monday, including a suicide car
bombing in Saddam's home town of Tikrit, near where
he was captured 18 months ago.
In all, at least 12 uniformed Iraqi personnel were
killed.
A senior U.S. diplomat was unscathed when a suicide
car bomber struck a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad,
killing two civilians, police said. The U.S. embassy
played it down, saying that an unidentified diplomat
happened to be in the area.
A spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party, a moderate
Sunni Arab grouping that has had strained relations
with Washington, said a senior U.S. official had
just left its compound in western Baghdad when his
convoy was hit by an explosion which shattered
windows in the party's headquarters. Witnesses saw
three U.S. soldiers, apparently wounded, being
airlifted away.
(Additional reporting by Lutfi Abu Oun, Michael
Georgy, Andrew Marshall, Luke Baker, Omar Anwar,
Mussab Khairallah, Diala Saadeh and Walid Ibrahim in
Baghdad, Amer Amery in Tikrit and Faris al-Mehdawi
in Baquba)
Reuters
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