Saddam Genocide trial resumes with new chief judge 20.9.2006

Mr Khalifa said replacing the chief judge was an "administrative matter". When the lawyers protested, the judge said the court would appoint new counsel.

Saddam said he wanted his lawyers to stay and protested against court-appointed counsel. "This is our personal right," Saddam shouted. He pointed his finger at the judge and pounded his fist on the podium. "You must deal with us as the law dictates," Saddam said.

Mr Khalifa asked him to stop talking, but Saddam refused, prompting the judge to order him out of the courtroom. A fiery exchange between the two men ensued.

Saddam told the judge: "Your father was in the security [forces] and he went on working as a sergeant in the security [forces] until the fall of Baghdad" - a reference to the 2003 US-led war that toppled Saddam's regime.

"I challenge you in front of the public if this is the case," Mr Khalifa shouted in response to Saddam's claim.

Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali, told Mr Khalifa that he also rejected court-appointed lawyers. "I'll stay [in the courtroom], but I'll decline to say anything or defend myself and I'll gladly accept any verdict, even if it's the death penalty."

The judge then resumed the session, calling in an elderly Kurdish witness to take the stand.

The Iraqi high tribunal, the country's supreme court, had asked for Mr Amiri, the previous chief judge, to be replaced in a letter sent to the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. Mr Maliki approved the request yesterday, according to an Iraqi government official.

Hussein al-Duri, an aide to Mr Maliki, said one reason for Mr Amiri's replacement was the judge's comments last week in a court session, in which he told Saddam, "You were not a dictator."

Mr Duri told Al-Arabiya television: "The head of the court is requested to run and control the session, and he is not allowed to violate judicial regulations. It is not allowed for the judge to express his opinion."

Mr Amiri's comment angered many Kurds and Shia, fuelling their criticism that he was too lenient with Saddam. Prosecutors in the trial had already asked for Mr Amiri to be replaced after he allowed Saddam to make outbursts at Kurdish witnesses during a court session.

The court is currently trying Saddam, Majid, and five others for war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in the 1988 Anfal campaign against Kurds in the late 1980s. The prosecution alleges some 180,000 people died in the campaign, many of them civilians killed by poison gas. Saddam and Majid also face the graver charge of genocide. All could face death by hanging if convicted.

This is Saddam's second trial. In his first trial - over alleged atrocities against Shiites in the town of Dujail - the chief judge stepped down halfway through the 9-month proceedings, saying he could no longer put up with criticism from officials that he was too lenient in allowing courtroom outbursts by Saddam and his co-defendants.

He was replaced by a far tougher judge who several times threw out defendants and defence lawyers he said were behaving unacceptably.

A verdict in the Dujail trial is expected on October 16.

AP   

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