BAGHDAD, Jan 24,
2006 (AFP) - The trial of ousted Iraqi
dictator Saddam Hussein on charges of crimes against
humanity was set to resume Tuesday with a new
Kurdish judge presiding over the high-profile case.
Saddam and seven co-defendants are due in court for
the eighth hearing since the trial began three
months ago following the last-minute appointment of
Rauf Rashid Abdel Rahman, a previously unknown
magistrate, as chief judge.
Saddam and his fellow accused are being tried for
the massacre of more than 140 Shiites from the town
of Dujail after the former Iraqi leader survived an
assassination attempt there in 1982.
If proved guilty, they could be hanged.
The trial, which started October 19, received a jolt
earlier this month when former chief judge Rizkar
Mohammed Amin, also a Kurd, resigned after he was
criticized for being too lenient with the defendents. |
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP
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Tuesday's trial is expected to hear testimony from
more complainant witnesses whose identities were
likely to be disguised for fear of reprisals.
The harrowing testimony so far has detailed torture
and abuse of detainees after hundreds of villagers
were rounded up following the assassination attempt
on Saddam in Dujail.
The next series of witnesses will be those who can
shed light on the events and could well include
former members of the regime, said a Western
official close to the court.
Officials anticipate that the entire trial could
stretch at least until late May or June, if there
are no major delays.
Amin's replacement, Abdel Rahman, was born in
Halabja, the Kurdish town which became a symbol of
repression in 1988 when Saddam's forces used
chemical weapons against its inhabitants, killing
several thousand people.
"He will remain as presiding judge until such a time
as an official decision is taken on whether to
accept judge Rizkar's resignation," Raed al-Juhi,
the chief investigating judge, said Monday.
The Iraqi government has yet to accept Amin's
resignation. If accepted the five-member court panel
will vote on a permanent new chief judge.
Amin has said he would not withdraw his resignation.
"I have no intention of going back on my decision,"
a close associate quoted him as saying Monday. He
said the judge planned to watch the rest of the
trial on television from his home in the northern
city of Sulaimaniyah.
"The official position of the court has always been,
since the time the (resignation) letter was
submitted, he is considered to be on leave," said
the Western official who had suggested he might yet
return.
It was initially believed that the next most senior
member of the five-member panel, Said al-Hammashi,
would take over as presiding judge.
But Hammashi, a Shiite, has himself been criticized
by the commission set up to root out members of
Saddam's former ruling Baath party from official
positions.
Saddam, 68, is currently only on trial for the
Dujail massacre.
But should he later face prosecution for the
massacre of Kurds in the 1980s, a new judge would
have to be appointed because of Abdel Rahman's
connection with Halabja.
Saddam's co-defendants include two members of the
ousted president's inner circle and five lesser
officials.
They include Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, one
of Saddam's three half-brothers and a former
director of the feared Mukhabarat intelligence
service, and Taha Yassin Ramadan who served as vice
president from 1991.
Both men took part in the 1968 coup that brought
Saddam's Baath party to power.
AFP
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