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Saddam judge postpones until November 5
possible verdict
16.10.2006
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A court trying Saddam
Hussein for the killing of Shi'ites in the 1980s has
postponed until November 5 a session in which it
could set a date for a verdict, that could carry a
death penalty, officials said on Monday.
The U.S.-backed court, which was set to announce on
Monday a final date for a verdict for the toppled
leader and seven of his former top lieutenants for
crimes against humanity, said it needed more time to
review testimony.
Court spokesman Raed Juhi said the Iraqi High
Tribunal would reconvene on November 5, but that it
was not clear if a date for a verdict would be
announced then.
"They are finishing reviewing testimony. If the
court has finished reviewing testimony by November 5
there might be a verdict. The court would do
whatever it finds appropriate," Juhi told Reuters.
Prosecutors have asked for the death penalty to be
imposed if Saddam is found guilty in the killing of
148 Shi'ites after an attempt on his life in the
village of Dujail in 1982.
Saddam is also on trial separately on charges of
genocide for a military operation against the
country's ethnic Kurds in the late 1980s that killed
tens of thousands.
Iraqi law states an execution must be by hanging.
Saddam has said he deserves to meet this fate by
firing squad rather than the gallows.
But any execution could be delayed by lengthy
appeals and by the up to a dozen other cases the
toppled leader could face.
SADDAM LETTER |
Chief Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman, headed the panel for
Saddam's trial in the killing of Shi'as in Dujail.
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP |
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Saddam struck a typically defiant tone in an open
letter dictated to his chief lawyer Khalil Dulaimi
during a four-hour meeting on Saturday in his
prison.
Saddam said Iraqis should put aside differences and
set only one goal - to drive U.S. troops out of
Iraq.
"Victory is at hand but don't forget that your
near-term goal is confined to liberating your
country from the forces of occupation," Saddam said
in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by
Reuters on Sunday.
Saddam has dismissed the Iraqi High Tribunal, set up
by a U.S. occupying administration after the 2003
invasion to oust him, as a sham. He has said a
guilty verdict has already been concocted by his
political enemies now in power.
Prosecutors in the Dujail trial have also asked for
the death penalty for three other co-accused,
including Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam's former
intelligence chief and half-brother.
The trial, which U.S. and Iraqi officials had hoped
would project a new image of democracy in Iraq, has
been marred by the killing of three defense lawyers,
a number of hunger strikes by Saddam and the
resignation of a previous judge, who accused the
Shi'ite-led government of political pressure.
Some international legal groups have said raging
violence between Saddam's fellow minority Sunnis and
majority Shi'ites, and an unrelenting Sunni
insurgency, makes a fair trial almost impossible.
They have called for a trial to be held in a third
country.
Reuters
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