|
Saddam lawyers want chief judge removed
1.2.2006
By HAMZA HENDAWI |
|
|
|
BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Saddam Hussein's defense lawyers are demanding that
the new chief judge be removed before they will end
their boycott of the trial, which resumes Wednesday
after a stormy session where the former president
was tossed out.
Khalil al-Dulaimi and Khamis al-Obeidi said they
have written to the Iraqi High Tribunal to demand
that Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman, who was named chief
judge last week, be removed from the current trial
and any other legal proceedings against Saddam.
Otherwise, they would not attend any more sessions,
they said. Al-Dulaimi also said Saddam would boycott
the trial Wednesday.
But chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi said Saddam
and the seven other defendants would be brought to
the court by force if necessary.
The two Iraqi lawyers told The Associated Press that
they believed Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, was biased
because his hometown of Halabja was subjected to a
1988 poison gas attack allegedly ordered by the
former president.
Some 5,000 Kurds were killed in that attack,
including several of Abdel-Rahman's relatives.
Saddam and seven co-defendants, including his half
brother and one-time intelligence chief, Barzan
Ibrahim, are on trial in the deaths of more than 140
Shiites after a 1982 attempt on the ex-president's
life in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad. They
face death by hanging if convicted.
"We will demand that this judge be removed from the
trial and any other trials involving my client," al-Dulaimi
said by telephone from Amman, Jordan. Al-Dulaimi,
who heads Saddam's defense team, described
Abdel-Rahman as a "legal adversary of my client."
Arab media reports claimed Abdel-Rahman had been
detained and tortured in the 1980s by Saddam's
security agents. Efforts to contact Abdel-Rahman
were unsuccessful.
However, another judge who is not part of the Dujail
trial said Abdel-Rahman suffered permanent injuries
to his back and one of his legs due to torture. The
judge spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the Saddam case. |
New chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman presides over the
trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and
seven co-defendants
Photo: AP
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP
|
|
During Sunday's stormy session, Abdel-Rahman ordered
Saddam out of the courtroom for arguing with him
over the former president's refusal to accept
court-appointed lawyers. The original defense team
had walked out in protest after the judge threw out
a Jordanian lawyer together with Ibrahim.
Two more defendants were ordered out after they also
refused the court-appointed attorneys.
Al-Dulaimi and al-Obeidi said Iraqi defendants have
the right to reject court-appointed lawyers.
Although the trial could proceed with Saddam's
court-appointed lawyers, the absence of the former
leader and his defense team would further undermine
the credibility of the proceedings. The trial has
already been beset by long delays, the assassination
of two defense lawyers and the resignation of its
first chief judge amid allegations he failed to rein
in Saddam.
The former chief judge, Rizqar Mohammed Amin, also a
Kurd, showed great leniency toward Saddam and his
half brother in the seven sessions he chaired since
the trial began Oct. 19.
By contrast, Abdel-Rahman made clear Sunday his
style would be different.
He told the court that he would not tolerate
political speeches from the defendants or their
lawyers. He angrily told Ibrahim to be quiet before
he was dragged out by burly bailiffs.
AP
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 