BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein returned to
court on Wednesday and immediately accused the
Interior Ministry of killing and torturing thousands
of Iraqis, remarks likely to inflame sectarian
tensions.
The toppled leader, who could face death by hanging,
remained defiant one day after the court announced
he would face new charges of genocide against the
ethnic Kurdish population in the late 1980s.
He may be in the dock again for another trial as
early as next month, potentially leading to a
drawn-out, complex legal process in a country where
most people want closure on a bloody past and a
future free of sectarian bloodshed.
Iraqi politicians and court officials are already
sending mixed signals on whether he would be
executed if found guilty in one trial, or be tried
on new charges in another first. |
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP
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The man whose word was law in Iraq seemed unfazed,
occasionally smiling as he manoeuvred around the
judge's orders to avoid political statements.
"If you want to put the whale into the net, which I
don't think you do, you have to tell the truth," he
told chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi.
"Don't be upset with me. I am older than you and I
have a higher rank and better history and yet I am
not upset with you."
Saddam refused to sign documents, saying that only
an international court would be fair, and denounced
the Interior Ministry as he faced cross examination
for the first time.
"It's the side that kills thousands in the street
and tortures them ...," he said, criticising the
Shi'ite-run ministry, which is accused of running
death squads by the Sunni Arabs who were dominant
when Saddam ruled Iraq.
When the judge interrupted him, Saddam said: "If
you're scared of the Interior Minister, he doesn't
scare my dog."
Interior Minister Bayan Jabor is a hate figure among
Sunnis, who accuse him of waging a sectarian war
against them and allowing Shi'ite militias to run
hit squads with impunity. He denies the accusations.
Saddam was the only defendant in the chamber, which
he has dominated with tirades questioning the
court's legitimacy and urging Iraqis to rise up
against U.S. occupation troops.
After chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman dismissed
Saddam's comments that it was a trial under
occupation, one of his lawyers pointed across the
court room to an American.
Abdel Rahman threatened to arrest her for 24 hours
and then cut off the sound system when Saddam
started to recite poetry.
GENOCIDE CHARGES
Saddam and seven co-accused are charged with killing
148 Shi'ite Muslims after an attempt on his life in
the town of Dujail in 1982.
He has said he was acting within the law against
people who tried to kill him.
Prosecutors hoped the Dujail case would produce a
swift sentence because the charges are less
complicated than others such as genocide. But the
trial has faced many setbacks, including the chief
judge's resignation and killing of two defence
lawyers.
The special tribunal trying Saddam said on Tuesday
that he would face charges of genocide against the
Kurds, who accuse him of killing more than 100,000
people and destroying thousands of their villages in
the late 1980s in the Anfal campaign.
Saddam sat in the chamber in a dark suit and white
shirt as his lawyer argued his case.
He engaged in verbal sparring with the judge, whose
impartiality has been questioned because he is a
Kurd from the village of Halabja, where Saddam's
forces were accused of killing 5,000 people in a
poison gas attack in 1988.
Saddam sarcastically referred to Abdel Rahman as
"Sir Raouf".
"I am the judge," said Abdel Rahman. Saddam
responded: "I don't know, I have to make sure."
Challenging prosecutor Moussawi again, he said of
the bodies left after the Dujail crackdown: "The
bodies were not shown to me. I am not a morgue
director."
Reuters
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