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'Who was Saddam, if not a dictator?' Kurds
ask sacked judge
21.9.2006
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Erbil, Kurdistan-Iraq, September 21, -- Iraqi
Kurds on Wednesday welcomed the sacking of the chief
judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial, charging
that he had not been capable of handling the case.
"In the court of (judge) Abdullah al-Ameri, Saddam
felt free and wanted to trespass the prosecutor,
witnesses and the lawyers," said Falak al-din
Kakaie, minister of culture in the Kurdish
administration of Kurdistan (northern Iraq).
Ameri was removed as chief judge by the government
Tuesday after saying Saddam was "not a dictator".
"Mr. Judge ... If Saddam was not a dictator, who was
he then?" Kakaie asked Ameri in an article in Khabat
al- Naval, the mouthpiece of Kurdistan Democratic
Party -- the dominant Kurdish party in Erbil.
Ameri was removed from the trial for his coordinal
exchange with Saddam in a session last week during
which he said to the former Iraqi strongman, "You
were not a dictator", and suggested that it was the
people close to him who made him look like one.
"When the judge told Saddam courteously that he was
not a dictator ... thus announcing his support to
him, it means that it is the Iraqi people who are
dictators and that Saddam was not a dictator," said
Fuad Hussain, a top official in the Kurdish
administration.
"Ameri was taking the court in a wrong direction. We
believe the decision to change him was correct and
hope that the victims shall not become the accused
in this court."
A Kurdish writer, Ahmed Maronsi, too questioned
Ameri's ability.
"We have never heard or seen in all our lives a
judge chairing a court discussing such a serious
issue (who) lacks knowledge of the case."
On Wednesday, Mohammed al-Oriebi al-Khalifah, a
Shiite who was deputy presiding judge, took over as
the new chief judge. |
New Chief judge Mohammed Oreibi Al-Khalifa on Saddam genocide
trial. Photo:AP
Sacked pro-Saddam former
Chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri on Saddam genocide
trial. Photo:AP |
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In the first few minutes of the opening of the
session, Khalifah ordered Saddam removed from the
court when he complained about his appointment.
The defence team also walked out in protest.
Saddam and six of his colleagues face charges
including genocide and are accused of spearheading a
military campaign in 1987-1988 against the Kurds
that killed 182,000 people. They face the death
penalty if found guilty.
AFP
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