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Session of Saddam trial cancelled and
postponed to Sunday
24.1.2006
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BAGHDAD, Jan 24
(Reuters) - The trial of Saddam Hussein, due to
resume on Tuesday, was postponed until Sunday, court
spokesman Raed Jouhi told reporters who had been
waiting for several hours for proceedings to start.
"Some witnesses are abroad, so the 1st Trial Chamber
decided to delay the session until Sunday, Jan. 29,"
said Jouhi, who is also the investigating magistrate
who prepared the trial.
Some, he said, were still making the Muslim haj
pilgrimage, which took place in Mecca earlier this
month.
The postponement came on the day a new chief judge
was due to take over from Kurdish chief judge Rizgar
Amin, who resigned complaining of political
pressure. The trial has also been rocked by
accusations that Amin's deputy is a Saddam
sympathiser and by the killing of two defence
attorneys.
Jouhi declined to say when the court had been
informed of the problem with the witnesses. Court
officials had confirmed only on Monday that the
eighth session of the former president's trial for
crimes against humanity would start on schedule.
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Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP
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Defence lawyers had said they would seek to halt the
proceedings because Amin's resignation and the
allegations of government interference had shown
that the U.S.-sponsored High Tribunal was not
independent.
Court officials named Amin's deputy, Shi'ite Muslim
Sayeed al-Hamashi, to take over the five-man panel
but he was denounced as a member of Saddam's Baath
party by an independent Iraqi agency.
He denies the charge, but another Kurd, Raouf Abdel
Rahman, was appointed on Monday to run Tuesday's
hearing.
International human rights groups have said Saddam
may not get a fair trial in the climate of sectarian
and ethnic violence gripping Iraq since U.S. forces
overthrew his Sunni Arab- dominated government.
Saddam and seven others are charged over the deaths
of 148 men from the Shi'ite village of Dujail after
an assassination attempt on him in 1982. The trial
began on Oct. 19. On that day, proceedings were cut
short when judge Amin said several witnesses from
Dujail were too afraid to show up.
Many witnesses have since spoken behind a screen
with their voices electronically disguised.
Reuters
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