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Deputy expected to replace Saddam judge
17.1.2006
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -
The chief judge who resigned from handling the
Saddam Hussein trial amid claims of government
interference is expected to be replaced by his
deputy, the top Iraqi investigator in the case said
Tuesday.
Judge Raid Juhi, who investigated Saddam before his
trial started but is not one of the judges trying
the deposed Iraqi leader, said the court was set up
under a law stipulating the chief judge's deputy
would take over for him if need be. Saad al-Hamash
is the second-ranking member of the five-judge
tribunal headed by Rizgar Mohammed Amin.
The tribunal said Amin wanted to quit for "personal
reasons" and not because of government pressure. His
resignation was not expected to prevent the trial
from resuming Jan. 24 as scheduled.
In Kirkuk, masked gunmen killed two people and
wounded three in attacks on the regional
headquarters of Iraq's anti-corruption Integrity
Commission and the nearby offices of the Kurdistan
People's Party, said police Capt. Farhad al-Talabani.
Police suspect the attacks were linked. |
Rizgar Amin, Chief judge in the trial of Saddam
Hussein
Photo : AFP
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No Iranian comment was immediately available.
The waterway runs along the Iran-Iraq border and has
long been a source of tension between Iran and Iraq.
The 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war broke out after Saddam
claimed the entire waterway for Iraq.
Saddam and seven co-defendants are accused in the
slayings of more than 140 Shiites in the town of
Dujail in 1982. His trial recessed on Dec. 22 after
two days of testimony. Conviction could bring a
sentence of death by hanging.
Amin would be the second judge to step down in the
case. Another member of the panel removed himself in
late November because one of the co-defendants may
have been involved in the execution of his brother.
That judge was replaced.
Amin, whose resignation has not yet been officially
accepted, has become fed up with criticism that he
has let the proceedings spin out of control, a court
official said Saturday.
Saddam has often grabbed the spotlight during the
nearly three-month-old trial, railing at Amin,
refusing to show up at one session, claiming he was
tortured and openly praying in court when the judge
would not allow a recess.
Since the trial opened on Oct. 19, two defense
lawyers also have been assassinated and a third has
fled the country. Police also uncovered a plot to
fire rockets at the courtroom in late November.
Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub, Sinan
Salaheddin and Hamid Ahmed in Baghdad and Yehia
Barzanji in Kirkuk contributed to this report.
AP
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